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LITTLE 


MAID  OF  ARCADY 


BY 

CHRISTIAN  REID, 

Author  of  "  A  Child  of   Mary,"  "  Philip's   Restitution, 
«  Carmela,"  «  Armine,"  Etc. 


•  •' 


Reprinted  from  the  "  Ave  Maria." 


PHILADELPHIA  : 

H.   L.   KlLNER   &   Co., 

PUBLISHERS. 


Copyright,  1893. 
By  H.  L.  Kilner,  &  Co. 


A  LITTLE  MAID  OF  ARCADY. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Deep  in  the  green  heart  of  a  valley,  shut  in  by 
the  peaks  of  the  Blue  Riclge,  stands — or  stood  a 
few  years  since — a  quaint,  old-fashioned  mill  upon 
a  clear  mountain  stream  ;  a  perfect,  picturesque 
object,  as  such  mills  usually  are  ;  embowered  in 
shade,  with  forest-clad  hillsides  rising  around  it, 
and  mountain  crests  towering  beyond ;  with  the 
creek  flashing  like  crystal  between  its  laurel- 
fringed  banks,  and  the  great  wheel  making  a  fore- 
ground in  the  picture,  all  alive  with  quiver-shad- 
ows and  rippling  lights.  It  was  like  reading  a 
poem — some  tender,  pastoral  idyl, — simply  to  sit 
near  this  rushing  wheel,  under  the  arching  trees 
on  a  golden  summer  afternoon,  or  in  the  hazy  au- 
tumn days,  and  watch  the  white  foam  on  one  side, 
the  clear,  bright  stream  on  the  other;  the  "  race  " 
shaded  over  with  a  roof  of  green  and  gold,  until 
it  seemed  as  if  fairy  barges  might  have  floated  on 
its  waters ;  a  picturesque  road  winding  down  the 
^  hillside  to  a  bridge  that  spanned  the  creek;  and 
*  *  (3) 


4  A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARC  AD  Y. 

over  and  above   all  the  everlasting  mountains  in 
their  solemn,  unchanging  repose. 

Yet  not  far  from  this  lovely  spot,  around  the 
shoulder  of  one  of  the  great  hills  that  guard  it,  is 
another  and  far  different  scene — a  mountain  gorge, 
deep,  wild,  almost  savage,  across  one  side  of  which 
a  breath  of  the  world  passes  two  or  three  times  a 
day  in  the  form  of  a  railroad  train,  speeding  from 
one  centre  of  civilization  to  another.  It  was  this 
gorge  which  was  the  scene  of  an  accident,  famous 
even  yet  in  the  annals  of  horror.  A  fearful  place 
for  an  accident,  with  its  precipitous  sides,  and  far 
below  the  level  of  the  track  its  stately  trees  look- 
ing like  merest  shrubs  :  a  terrible  place  for  life  and 
death  to  clash  together  in  one  awful  second  :  for 
eyes  to  take  their  last  look  on  existence,  for  death- 
sobs  to  be  given  and  throbs  of  mortal  agony  borne, 
the  whole  of  which  God  only  knows ;  a  horrible 
place  for  men,  women  and  children  to  be  blent  to- 
gether in  one  fiery  destruction,  one  mass  of  quiv- 
ering, suffering  humanity  ;  for  hearts,  careless  or 
careworn,  happy  or  sad,  to  be  hurled  in  one  dread 
moment  from  time  into  eternity  !  It  is  a  place 
even  yet  pregnant  with  suggestions  of  all  the  dark 
anguish  of  which  it  was  the  scene;  and  old  rail- 
way officials  still  speak  of  the  accident  as  one  of 
the  most  terrible  on  record  ;  still  shudder  as  they 
cast  a  hurried  glance  from  the  car  windows  over 
that  precipice,  down  which  the  engine  plunged 
like  some  mad,  sentient  thing. 


A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY.  5 

Ten  years  had  elapsed  since  that  plunge  was 
taken ;  and  the  sunshine  of  another  August  day, 
as  lovely  as  the  one  now  long  since  passed,  was  ly- 
ing over  the  mountains  and  valleys,  bathing  the 
summits  of  the  first  in  glory  and  leaving  the  last 
in  soft  shadow  as  the  afternoon  advanced,  when 
two  young  people  entered  the  gorge  and  made 
their  way  directly  to  the  spot  where  the  accident 
had  occurred, — that  is,  where  the  train  had  been 
hurled  in  its  awful  fall.  No  sign  marking  the 
place  now  remained,  but  there  seemed  not  the  least 
doubt  or  hesitation  on  the  part  of  these  two. 
Without  exchanging  a  word  they  advanced,  until 
presently  saying  to  each  other  "  Here !  '  they 
paused  by  a  mass  of  granite  that,  detached  from 
the  heights  above  in  some  b}Tgone  convulsion  of 
nature,  now  lay  clothed  with  moss  and  half  buried 
in  tall  ferns. 

They  were  a  boy  and  a  girl,  dressed  in  the  fash- 
ion of  the  inhabitants  of  this  thinly-settled  mount- 
ain region,  yet  with  a  difference  that  showed  a 
greater  attention  to  personal  neatness  than  was 
common  with  most  of  these  inhabitants.  The  boy, 
who  seemed  to  be  about  seventeen,  wore  the  rough 
linsey  which  in  these  remote  districts  is  still  woven 
in  the  farm-houses  in  the  old  fashion  on  hand 
looms.  He  was  without  his  coat,  and  a  certain 
powdering  of  white  indicated  that  he  had  lately 
quitted  the  mill.  But  there  was  nothing  loutish 
about  him.      Not  even  the  roughness  of  his  attire 


6  A  LITTLE  MAID   OF  ARC  AD  Y. 

could  conceal  the  fact  that  his  figure  was  well 
built — slim,  muscular  and  graceful ;  his  bearing 
good,  his  step  springing  and  elastic.  He  held  his 
head  high,  and,  when  he  removed  a  somewhat  bat- 
tered straw-hat,  showed  a  very  frank  and  open 
countenance,  deeply  sunburned,  and  lighted  by 
clear  eyes  full  of  intelligence.  Yet,  although  his 
whole  appearance  impressed  strongly  and  pleas- 
antly, it  was  not  possible  to  say  that  he  was  out  of 
place  in  his  manifest  surroundings ;  while,  on  the 
oilier  hand,  the  girl  seemed  a  creature  transported 
from  another  sphere  of  life  altogether. 

She  wore,  like  any  other  mountain  maiden,  the 
simplest  possible  frock  of  pink  calico,  made  short 
enough  to  show  her  small  feet  and  shapely  ankles ; 
and  she  carried  a  sunbonnet  in  her  hand.  But 
withal  she  looked  like  a  princess  in  disguise,  so 
rare  and  delicate  was  her  type  of  beauty.  From 
her  small  head,  covered  with  curls  that  seemed  to 
have  once  been  guilded  by  the  sun,  and  to  have 
kept  that  guilding  fixed  upon  their  brown  forever, 
to  the.  ends  of  her  fingers — or  of  her  nails,  as  the 
French  expressively  sa}T,— the  mark  of  that  mysteri- 
ous but  absolutely  undeniable  thing  which  we  call 
*'  blood '  was  set.  Every  line  of  her  figure  ex- 
pressed it,  every  feature  of  her  face, — a  face  so 
charming  in  its  loveliness,  in  the  delicacy  of  its 
wild-rose  complexion,  the  beauty  of  its  soft  brown 
eyes,  the  perfect  finish  of  its  brows,  the  fine  out- 
line and  arched  nostrils  of  its  nose,  and   the  win- 


A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY.  7 

some  curve  of  its  lips,  that  it  seemed  made  to  be 
painted  on  ivory  and  set  with  pearls.  Everything 
most  fine  and  dainty  in  the  luxury  of  the  world 
would  have  been  only  a  fit  setting  for  this  fair  face  ; 
3ret  here,  by  some  strange  caprice  of  Fate,  it  ap- 
peared amid  the  rough  environments  of  life  in  this 
wild  region. 

"  I  never  want  to  come  here  at  any  other  time," 
the  girl  said  presently,  looking  up  to  where,  far 
above,  the  track  clung  to  the  mountain  side,  and 
then  down  again  into  the  deep,  green  dell  where 
they  stood  ;  "  but  to-day  it  always  seems  to  me  as 
if  I  ought  to  come.  All  day  long  something  is 
telling  me  to  do  so,  and  I  do  not  feel  satisfied  until 
I  have  been  here." 

"  I  don't  see  why  you  should  come  to-day  more 
than  any  other  day,"  said  her  companion,  in  a 
practical  tone.     "  But  if  you  like  it — " 

"I  don't  like  it,"  she  interrupted.  "I  hate  to 
think  of  all  that  happened  here  ;  but  it  seems  as 
if  to-day  I  ought  to  think, — as  if  all  the  rest  of  the 
year  I  might  forget,  but  not  to-day." 

"Bernadette,  you  have  too  many  notions,  I 
think,"  answered  the  boy,  shaking  his  head. 

The  girl  spread  out  her  small,  sunburned  hands 
with  a  gesture  which  assuredly  she  had  not 
learned  from  any  of  her  present  surroundings  ;  it 
must  have  come,  like  her  name,  from  some  ances- 
tor who  spoke  the  sweet  tongue  of  France. 

u  Do  you  call  it  a  notion,"  she  asked,  looking  at 


8  A   LITTLE   MAID   OF   AUCADY. 

him  reproachfully,  "  to  remember  my  poor  mother, 
and  the  dreadful  death  she  died,  just  one  day  in 
the  year  ?  Every  other  day  your  mother  is  m}' 
mother,  too  ;  but  to-day  I  must  think  of  my  own. 
It  is  not  much  to  do." 

"  It  is  foolish  to  talk  that  way,"  said  the  boy, 
uncompromisingly.  "Don't  you  remember  your 
mother  every  day?  Isn't  her  grave  all  the  time 
before  your  eyes,  and  do  you  ever  say  your  prayers 
without  praying  for  her  ?  " 

"  But  this  is  different,"  she  persisted.  "  I  can't 
make  you  understand,  but  it  is  different.  Of 
course  I  pray  for  her,  and  of  course  I  remember 
her  always — in  a  way.  But  it  is  not  this  way.  I 
feel  as  if  " — she  paused  and  seemed  to  hesitate  for 
words,  although  indeed  the  speech  of  both  these 
young  people  was  remarkably  correct — "  as  if  the 
rest  of  the  time  I  belonged  to  you  all,  but  to-day 
only  to  her." 

The  boy  shook  his  head  again.  There  was  a 
degree  of  imaginativeness  in  this  which  his  prac- 
tical mind  found  itself  unable  to  grasp.  But  he 
spoke  tolerably : 

"  We  shouldn't  grudge  your  belonging  to  her 
for  one  day,"  he  observed,  "  if  it  would  do  her  any 
good.  But  what  good  is  it  to  her,  or  to  you 
either,  for  you  to  come  here  and  think  of  all  that 
happened  that  awful  day  so  long  ago  ?  It  would 
be   better  to  go  and  say  a  Be  profundis  at  her 


grave." 


A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY.  9 

"  And  do  you  think  I  haven't  done  so?  "  cried 
the  girl,  almost  indignantly.  "  But  here  was  where 
she  died  :  it  is  right  that  I  should  pray  for  her 
here  also." 

Without  waiting  for  reply,  she  knelt  down 
among  the  ferns  and,  crossing  herself,  began  to 
pray.  Her  companion  watched  her  for  a  moment ; 
and,  had  he  been  able  to  appreciate  it,  the  scene 
was  as  strange  as  it  was  charming.  Strange,  be- 
cause in  this  region  there  is  little  known  of  re- 
ligion save  the  rudest  forms  of  Protestantism  ; 
and  this  touching  practice  of  faith— the  kneeling 
girl  praying  for  her  dead  mother — seemed  as  much 
out  of  accord  with  the  surroundings  as  Catholic 
practices,  which  are  made  to  fit  all  times  and 
places,  can  ever  seem.  Had  it  been  a  glen  of  the 
Tyrol,  the  simple  picturesqueness  of  the  scene 
might  have  struck  an  observer ;  but  here  the 
strangeness  overpowered  the  picturesqueness. 
However,  it  seemed  natural  enough  to  the  youth. 
After  an  instant  he,  too,  knelt  down  and  prayed 
for  a  few  minutes.  But  his  orisons  were  short  and 
evidently  somewhat  perfunctory.  He  soon  rose  ; 
and  while  he  sat,  with  uncovered  head,  waiting  for 
Bernadette  to  conclude  her  prayers,  one  may 
briefly  tell  the.  story  of  how  these  two  lives  were 
so  singularly  cast  together. 

Fifteen  years  before  this  time  there  had  come  to 
the  mountain  neighborhood  a  quiet,  taciturn 
Scotchman  with  his  wife  and  child.     Perhaps  the 


10  A   LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARC  AD  Y. 

recollection  of  Lis  native  glens,  where  life  had 
been  made  impossible  to  him,  but  to  which  the 
heart  of  the  Highlander  ever  clings  with  deep  and 
tenacious  affection,  had  influenced  him  to  seek  a 
home  amid  these  far,  fair  heights.  His  wife,  like 
himself,  was  from  the  Highlands  ;  and  both  had 
belonged  to  one  of  those  places  where  the  ancient 
faith  of  Scotland  has  never  died  during  all  the 
dark  centuries  of  heresy  and  persecution  which 
have  overwhelmed  the  rest  of  that  country.  With 
such  a  heritage  of  fidelity,  they  were  not  likely  to 
cease  to  prize  their  faith  when  circumstances  led 
them  to  another  land.  Once  a  month  a  priest 
came  to  a  small  town,  distant  eight  or  ten  miles  ; 
and  whoever  else  failed  to  greet  him  there,  the 
faithful  Highland  couple  never  did.  For  the  rest, 
they  lived  quietly  and  happily  in  their  secluded 
home  ;  the  ceaseless  rushing  and  grinding  of  what 
was  known  far  and  wide  as  "  the  Cameron  Alill " 
supplied  all  that  was  needed  for  their  simple 
wants.  And  so  five  years  had  passed  like  a  dream 
when  the  day  came  of  the  terrible  railroad  acci- 
dent,  and  the  whole  scene  of  horror,  death  and 
mortal  agony  lay,  as  it  were,  at  their  door. 

It  was  a  scene  that  it  would  be  impossible  for 
the  most  callous  ever  to  forget, — a  scene  to  haunt 
and  sicken  so  long  as  life  should  last;  and  it  was 
one  which  they  were  destined  to  see  and  know  in 
all  its  details.  For  many  days  their  house — the 
only  one  near  the  place  of  accident — was  trans- 


A   LITTLE   MAID    OF    ARC  AD  Y.  11 

formed  into  a  hospital,  and  became  the  centre  of 
all  the  excitement  that  ensued.  Mutilation  in 
every  form,  suffering  in  every  degree,  death  and 
desolation,  were  all  around  them.  The  very  air 
seemed  rilled  with  anguish.  And  when  at  last 
the  sad  tide  ebbed  away,  when  the  dead  and 
wounded  were  all  removed,  one  waif  of  the  wreck 
remained  stranded  on  their  shore.  This  was  a 
child,  a  girl  of  some  four  or  five  years,  who  had 
been  found  beside  the  dead  body  of  her  mother 
amid  all  the  terrible  debris.  Strangely  enough, 
the  little  creature  was  unhurt ;  and  her  wild,  piti- 
ful amazement  at  first,  her  deep,  passionate  grief 
afterward,  were  so  unlike  a  child,  and  so  touch- 
ing hi  their  intensity,  that  in  the  effort  to  com- 
fort, Mrs.  Cameron  soon  learned  to  love  her.  The 
kind  woman's  heart  yearned  over  such  helpless 
orphanhood ;  and  when  everyone  else  had  been 
removed,  and  she  alone  was  left  in  her  childish 
desolation,  unclaimed  by  any  friend  or  kinsman, 
the  husband  and  wife  consulted  together  and  de- 
cided to  keep  her. 

44  Better  do  that  than  let  the  bit  thing  drift  away 
— God  knows  where,"  said  the  former.  "  If  she's 
claimed,  it'll  be  easy  for  her  friends  to  find  her 
here.  If  not,  we'll  try  to  bring  her  up  as  a  Chris- 
tian, and  God  will  provide  the  rest.  We've  none 
of  our  own  but  Alan.  So  let  her  bide,  Janet, — 
let  her  bide  !  " 

It  is  almost  needless  to  say  with  what  delight 


12  A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

Mrs.  Cameron  received  this  decision,  and  she  beg- 
ged  that  her  husband  would  lose  no  time  in  tell- 
ing the  railroad  officials  that  they  were  willing  to 
keep  the  child.  Since  every  effort  to  discover  her 
friends  had  failed,  the  officials  were  only  too  glad 
to  take  them  at  their  word ;  and  so  the  little  waif 
found  home  and  love  and  tender  care  on  the  very 
spot  which  had  witnessed  her  desolation. 

At  first  they  questioned  her  a  great  deal,  striv- 
ing to  extract  some  information  that  would  lead 
to  the  discovery  of  those  who  had  a  claim  upon 
her  ;  but  thev  soon  found  that  this  was  hone! ess. 
She  was  very  bright  and  intelligent,  but  it  was 
evident  that  she  knew  verv  little  of  her  own  his- 
tory.  Her  name,  she  said,  was  Bernadette  Ar- 
naud  :  and  mamma — the  pale,  dead  lady  who  had 
been  laid  away  to  rest  in  a  quiet  spot  beyond  the 
garden — was  named  Marian  Arnaud.  Her  papa 
was  dead — oh  yes,  dead  she  was  sure  ;  for  she  had 
often  been  to  his  grave  with  mamma  !  They  had 
lived  in  a  great  many  places,  she  and  her  mamma, 
and  from  all  that  could  be  gathered  had  spent 
much  of  their  time  in  travelling.  But  her  memory 
for  names  was  defective,  her  pronunciation  (or  so 
it  seemed  to  ears  unaccustomed  to  foreign  sounds) 
more  defective  still ;  and  where  they  had  been  go- 
ing when  a  cruel  death  so  suddenly  overtook  the 
mother,  the  little  girl  did  not  know  or  could  not 
tell. 

A  trunk,  which  she  identified  as  her  mother's, 


A   LITTLE   MAID    OF   Alt  CAD  Y.  13 

had  been  saved  ;  but  there  was  little  in  it  of  im- 
portance— no  pictures,  letters,  or  any  such  guides 
to  possible  identification  ;  only  the  plain  wardrobe 
of  a  lady  and  the  clothes  of  little  Bernadette.  A 
few  French  books  bore  the  name  of  Arnaud;  but 
the  only  thing  which  seemed  likely  to  prove  a 
clue  to  the  dead  lady's  kindred  and  position  was 
a  locket  with  a  monogram  set  in  brilliants  on  its 
back,  and  within  the  likeness  of  the  delicate,  re- 
fined face  of  a  woman  of  middle  age.  Together 
with  this  was  an  old,  much-worn  Bible,  with  the 
name  "  Marian  Ridgeley  "  and  a  date  ten  years 
before  traced  on  the  fly-leaf.  Having  satisfied 
themselves  that  this  was  all,  the  Camerons  closed 
the  trunk  and  put  it  carefully  away,  leaving  the 
mystery  for  God  to  deal  with  as  He  found  best; 
and  only  thanking  Him  that  out  of  sorrow  He  had 
brought  joy,  and  given  them  a  sunbeam  in  the 
child,  whom  they  grew  to  love  as  if  she  had  been 
their  very  own  in  flesh  and  blood. 

Nor  was  this  remarkable.  She  was  not  only  so 
pretty  that  to  look  at  her  was  a  pleasure,  but  she 
had  the  most  sweet  and  gracious  disposition  pos- 
sible to  imagine.  Even  the  rough  mountaineers, 
who  formed  the  only  society  of  the  neighborhood, 
grew  to  regard  her  with  a  peculiar  affection  ;  and 
though  she  was  singularly  dainty  and  refined  in 
all  her  ways— evidently  a  little  lady  born, — these 
traits  did  not  offend  them,  as  fine  manners  often 
do   offend   the   coarse.      On   the    contrary,   they 


14  A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

seemed  to  like  her  the  better  for  her  difference 
from  themselves  ;  and  she  was  certainly  the  ele- 
ment which  saved  her  own  household  from  the 
roughness  engendered  by  an  isolated  life  and  rude 
companionship. 

The  Camerons  were  undoubtedly  above  the 
grade  of  those  around  them,  yet  not  so  much  that 
they  might  not  have  drifted  into  their  manners 
and  habits  but  for  Bernadette.  Insensibly  to  her- 
self, insensibly  even  to  them,  she  refined  by  her 
mere  contact ;  being  one  of  those  rare  people  to 
whom  courtesy,  gentleness,  and  consideration  for 
others,  come  by  nature,  not  b}r  teaching.  Then, 
again,  Mrs.  Cameron  felt  that  it  was  her  duty  to 
keep  the  child  as  much  as  possible  what  she  had 
found  her,  so  that  she  might  at  any  time  be  able 
to  fill  the  position  to  which  she  was  clearly  born. 
To  do  this  it  was  necessary  not  to  lapse  into  the 
social  and  domestic  habits  around  them  ;  so  it  will 
be  seen  that,  in  this  respect  at  least,  the  old  axiom 
that  virtue  is  its  own  reward  came  in  a  measure 
true.  The  little  stray — the  dark-eyed,  sweet- 
faced  fairy  princess — had  not  passed  out  of  child- 
hood before  her  kind  protectors  fully  realized  that 
in  her  own  person  she  was  the  fairest  and  bright- 
est gift  which  fortune  had  ever  bestowed  upon 
them. 

And  one  gift,  greater  and  more  priceless  even 
than  their  love,  they  were  able  to  bestow  upon 
her — the  gift  of  faith.     That  her  mother  had  not 


A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARCADY.  15 

been  a  Catholic  was  abundantly  proved, — posi- 
tively by  the  Protestant  Bible  in  her  trunk,  and 
negatively  by  the  absence  of  any  Catholic  emblem 
upon  herself  or  the  child.  But  when  all  hope  of 
tracing  her,  or  of  Bernadette  being  claimed  by  her 
family,  seemed  at  an  end,  the  Camerons  said  to 
each  other  that  they  were  now  not  only  at  liberty 
to  adopt  the  little  one  as  their  own,  but  to  make  a 
Catholic  of  her. 

And  surely  it  must  have  been  the  blood  of 
Catholic  ancestors  in  her  veins,  or  the  prayers  of 
Catholic  ancestors  in  heaven,  which  made  the 
child  accept  with  such  readiness  the  devotional 
practices  taught  her.  Certainly  she  seemed  to 
turn  to  the  faith  as  a  flower  opens  to  the  sun,  and 
its  influence  added  another  and  more  tender  grace 
to  those  which  nature  had  already  bestowed  upon 
her.  As  years  went  on,  Mrs.  Cameron  often  said 
to  herself  that  if  she  were  now  claimed  by  others 
and  taken  away,  she  would  at  least  carry  with  her 
one  great  possession  of  which  no  later  influences 
could  rob  her.  Of  this,  perhaps,  there  could  at 
that  time  have  been  no  certainty ;  but  it  was  at 
least  certain  that  Bernadette  loved  her  religion  as 
only  some  rare  natures  love  it,  feeling  no  con- 
straint in  its  yoke:  only  recognizing  its  sweetness 
and  beauty,  unconsciously  at  first,  afterward  with 
the  strength  of  a  character  quick,  impulsive,  yet 
tenacious  in  all  that  concerned  the  affections. 

The  last  was  plainly  shown  in  her  attachment 


16  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

to  her  adopted  parents,  and  to  Alan,  their  only 
son.  The  two  children  had  indeed  conceived  a 
strong  affection  for  each  other  from  the  first ;  and 
had  Mrs.  Cameron  been  at  all  familiar  with  modern 
fiction,  she  might  have  thought  of  Tom  and 
Maggie  Tulliver,  as  she  often  watched  them  going 
hand  in  hand  down  the  path  which  led  from  the 
house  to  the  mill.  But,  although  the  manner  in 
which  the  delicate  little  girl  trotted  after  the 
taller,  stalwart  boy,  who  treated  her  with  the  con- 
descending patronage  which  boys  generally  dis- 
play toward  girls,  might  have  recalled  the  brother 
and  sister  who  lived  beside  the  Floss,  there  was 
nothing  of  similarity  in  the  characters  of  the  two 
children.  Alan  Cameron,  despite  some  of  the 
roughness  of  boyhood,  had  none  of  Tom  Tulliver's 
inherent  brutality,  and  Bernadette  none  of 
Maggie's  emotional  weakness.  Hers  indeed  ap- 
peared, as  they  grew  out  of  childhood,  to  be  the 
stronger  character  of  the  two;  for  her  influence 
was  not  only  apparent  in  a  refining  effect  upon 
the  boy,  who  might  else  have  developed  into  such 
a  young  bear  as  his  sex  usually  become  from  ten 
to  twenty,  but  she  often  tyrannized  over  him 
with  a  sweet  imperiousness  which  he  found  it 
difficult  to  resist. 


CHAPTER  II. 

« I  often  wonder,"  said  Bernadette  to  her  com- 
panion, when  they  were  presently  sitting  side  by 
side  on  the  moss-draped  boulder,  "  whether  I  shall 
ever  know  anything  about  who  I  am.  It  seems 
very  strange,  when  one  thinks  of  it,  not  to  know 
who  one  is." 

"  Coming  here  makes  you  think  of  such  things," 
observed  Alan,  who  had  evidently  a  rooted  disap- 
proval of  this  pilgrimage.  "  What  is  the  good  of 
it,  Bernadette  ?  What  does  it  matter  who  you  are  ? 
You  are  yourself,  and  you  belong  to  us  now, — that 
is  enough." 

The  girl  looked  at  him  for  a  moment  gravely 
with  her  clear  brown  eyes. 

"  I  suppose  it  is  enough  for  you"  she  said  ;  "  but 
not  for  me.  How  can  I  help  wondering  who  I  am, 
who  my  mother  was,  where  she  was  going  on  that 
awful  day,  and  why  nobody  ever  has  seemed  to 
know  or  care  anything  about  her  ?  " 

"  I  suppose  you  can't  help  it,"  the  boy  agreed 
tolerantly  once  more.  "  But  wondering  will  do  no 
good.  Father  tried,  and  the  Railroad  Company 
tried,  to  find  out  something  about  her,  and  they 
never  could.  Perhaps  she  didn't  belong  to  this 
countrv  at  all.  Perhaps  she  was  a  foreigner,  and 
2  (17) 


18  A   LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

her  people  are  on  the  other  side  of  the  world.  You 
are  foreign,  you  know,  Bernadette.  Your  name  is 
French." 

"  But  she  was  not  French,"  said  Bernadette.  "I 
am  sure  of  that.  I  remember  that  when  we  lived 
in  a  great  city — oh,  such  a  beautiful,  bright,  gay 
city  ! — where  everybody  spoke  French,  she  always 
talked  to  me  in  English.  That  is  how  I  knew 
English  when  I  came  here." 

"  Yes,"  answered  Alan.  They  had  often  spoken 
of  this  before  ;  and  agreed  that  the  gay,  beautiful 
cit}r,  which,  with  its  palaces  and  gardens  and 
bridges,  remained  in  the  child's  memory  like  a  pic- 
ture, must  have  been  Paris.  But,  although  he  had 
once  been  curious  as  Bernadette  herself  with  re- 
gard to  her  identity,  and  had  talked  with  her  over 
everything  that  she  could  remember,  thus  uncon- 
sciously fixing  many  details  in  her  mind  which 
might  else,  as  she  grew  older,  have  escaped  it,  he 
had  of  late  evinced  a  reluctance  to  enter  upon  the 
subject,  and  had  discouraged  allusion  to  it.  This, 
no  doubt,  originated  partly  in  a  vague  jealousy  of 
those  who  might  possess  a  claim  upon  the  girl 
stronger  than  that  of  his  parents,  and  partly  also 
in  the  sensible  conviction  that  the  less  she  thought 
of  a  mystery  which  appeared  destined  never  to  be 
solved,  the  better. 

"It  doesn't  matter  who  you  were,"  he  repeated. 
"You  are  our  Bernadette  now;  and  I  should  like 


A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   AECADY.  19 

to  see  anybody  come  and  try  to  claim  you  after  all 
these  years  !  "  lie  added,  almost  fiercely. 

"I  don't  want  to  be  claimed,"  replied  Berna- 
dette.  "If  anybody  came,  I  would  not  go — noth- 
ing could  make  me  go — away  from  you  all.  You 
ought  to  know  that,  Alan.  But,  all  the  same,  I  do 
wonder  who  I  am.  I  should  like  to  find  out  that, 
and  then  come  back  and  live  always  just  as  we  are 
living  now." 

Even  at  this  early  age,  Alan  Cameron's  special 
forte  was  his  common-sense.  He  hesitated  a  mo- 
ment, then  smiled. 

"If  you  would  be  satisfied  then,  why  aren't  you 
satisfied  now?  "  he  asked.  "If  you  live  with  us 
always,  what  difference  does  it  make  who  you  were 
before  you  came  to  us  ?  " 

Perhaps  to  the  imaginative  temperament  there  is 
nothing  so  trying  as  common-sense.  Bernadette 
made  a  quick,  impatient  gesture. 

"  It  makes  a  great  deal  of  difference  to  me,"  she 
said.  "  It  would  make  a  difference  to  you  if  you 
didn't  know  who  your  father  and  mother  were,  or 
anything  whatever  about  them,  except  that  one 
was  killed  in — a  terrible " 

She  paused.  Her  eyes  had  filled  with  tears  and 
her  voice  choked.  Sometimes  the  memory  of  the 
past,  which  was  mostly  like  an  oft-told  tale,  with- 
out power  to  affect  strongly,  rushed  upon  her  with 
strange  force.  Here,  where  her  mother  had  met 
the  terrible  death   of  which  she  spoke,  the  lies  of 


20  A  LITTLE   MAID  OF   ARCADY. 

nature  thrilled  in  the  girl,  whom  nature  had  fash- 
ioned insensitive  mould.  Simple  as  her  upbring- 
ing had  been,  her  character  and  disposition  were 
not  simple.  Forces,  complex  and  paradoxical, 
which  she  was  herself  far  from  understanding,  ex- 
isted within  her,  inherited  from  lives  that  had  pre- 
ceded hers, — lives  far  different  from  these  alto- 
gether simple  ones  with  which  fate  had  cast  her 
own.  Many  of  these  forces  were  as  yet  dor- 
mant ;  but  the  day  would  come  when  they  would 
waken,  and  then — who  could  foretell  the  result? 
Absolutely  unimaginative  as  Alan  Cameron  was, 
some  instinctive  knowledge  of  this  was  in  his 
mind.  He  felt  that  Bernadette  was  of  a  different 
kind  from  his  parents  and  himself;  and  his  fear 
was  more  perhaps  of  this  difference  which  lay 
within  herself,  than  of  any  danger,  which  seemed 
too  remote  to  be  considered,  that  might  come  from 
the  outside. 

At  this  moment  he  did  not  see  wiry  a  totally 
useless  discussion  should  be  prolonged ;  and,  de- 
tecting the  tremor  in  Bernadette's  voice,  he  rose 
to  his  feet  with  a  hasty  yet  decided  movement. 

"  It's  getting  late,"  he  said,  abruptly.  "  We'd 
best  be  going.  Father  won't  know  what's  become 
of  me ;  for  I  didn't  tell  him  when  I  left  the  mill." 

Bernadette  rose  also,  without  a  word.  There 
could  be  no  doubt  that  it  was  growing  late  :  the 
sun  had  ceased  to  gild  the  summits  of  the  tall 
heights  around  them,  and  the  deep  gorge  was  al- 


A  LITTLE  MAID   OF  ARCADY.  21 

most  in  twilight  shadow.  But  she  knew  that 
Alan's  movement  was  not  so  much  owing  to  the 
lateness  of  the  hour  as  to  a  desire  to  end  their 
conversation  ;  so  she  walked  beside  him  silently 
for  several  minutes.  Then  she  said,  a  little 
coldly : 

"  I  know  you  think  it's  very  foolish  of  me  to 
talk  of  these  things,  Alan.  But  I'll — I'll  take  care 
not  to  talk  of  them  any  more  to  you." 

"I  think,"  said  Alan,  uncompromisingly,  "that 
it's  foolish  to  fret  about  things  that  can't  be  helped 
and  that  can't  be  found  out.  If  you  keep  on  think- 
ing  and  wondering  about  them,  you'll  just  make 
yourself  miserable  ;  and  all  for  nothing,  because 
there's  no  way  to  find  out  what  you  want  to 
know." 

"  I'm  not  miserable,"  said  Bernadette  ;  "  and  I 
hardly  ever  think  of  it ;  only  when  I  do  it  would 
be  strange  if  I  didn't  wonder.  But  I'll  not  talk 
of  it  to  you  any  more.     You  don't  understand." 

"  No,"  said  Alan  the  practical,  "  I  dont  under- 
stand the  use  of  talking  or  thinking  about  things 
that  can't  be  mended." 

This  position  was,  in  itself,  certainly  unassaila- 
ble. No  one  is  likely  to  deny  that  there  is  not  the 
slightest  use  in  fretting  over  or  conjecturing  about 
things  that  are  past  mending  or  past  finding  out. 
Unable  to  dispute  a  point  so  self-evident,  yet 
more  than  ever  convinced  that  Alan  did  not 
or  would  not  understand  her,  Bernadette  took  ref- 


22  A  LITTLE  MAID   OF  ARCADY. 

uge  in  silence ;  and  nothing  more  was  said  by 
either  until  they  had  left  the  gorge  and  emerged 
into  the  small  but  lovely  valley,  where  the  mill 
stood  beside  the  rushing  stream. 

A  man  standing  in  the  door  of  the  mill — a  tall, 
stalwart,  white-powdered  figure,  with  dark,  kind 
eyes  set  in  a  weather-beaten  face,  which  was 
crowned  by  short  locks  of  iron-gray  hair — saw 
them  coming  and  said  to  himself:  "So  that's 
where  Alan  went — with  the  lassie  to  the  gorge ! 
Ay,  to  be  sure  it's  the  day — she  never  forgets  it. 
But  I'm  thinking  it  might  be  better  if  she  did  for- 
get it  now."  From  which  it  will  be  perceived  that 
there  was  an  unanimity  of  feeling  in  the  Cameron 
family  on  this  point. 

Meanwhile  Bernadette  observed  to  her  compan- 
ion as  they  crossed  the  bridge:  "  There's  father  in 
the  mill.  Let  us  go  to  him."  And  a  few  moments 
later  she  stood  in  the  open  door  by  the  side  of  the 
miller,  who  turned  and  smiled  upon  her  with  his 
kindly  eyes,  rather  than  with  his  lips. 

"  Well,  lassie,"  he  said,  with  a  strong  Highland 
accent,  "  ye  have  been  to  the  glen  nae  doubt. 
Dinna  be  sorrowful,  my  bonnie  bairn,  for  thinking 
of  what  happened  there,"— and  he  laid  a  broad, 
brown  hand  upon  her  head.  "  The  Lord  kens  bet- 
ter than  we  do  what's  best,  and  yeVe  nae  been 
unhappy  all  these  years." 

The  girl  looked  up  in  his  face  with  a  glance  full 
of  grateful  affection ;  then,  with  one  of  the  grace- 


A  LITTLE  MAID   OF  ARCADY.  23 

ful  ways  which  she  had  not  learned  from  these  un- 
demonstrative people,  took  his  toil-worn  hand  and 
lightly  touched  her  lips  to  it. 

"  No,"  she  said  :  "  I've  been  happy  always,  al- 
ways. But  I  was  telling  Alan — only  he  doesn't  like 
for  me  to  say  it — that  to-day  I  must  think  of  my 
mother  ;  and  when  I  think  of  her,  I  can  but  won- 
der who  I  am.  I'm  sure  it's  not  yon.,  father" — 
with  a  glance  of  reproach  at  Alan, — "  who  would 
think  it  strange  for  me  to  remember  these  things 
—to-day?" 

"  To-day — no,  my  bairn,"  answered  the  miller, 
gravely.  "  But  maybe  what  Alan  means  is  that  if 
ye  think  of  them  too  much,  ye'll  nae  be  content 
with  your  lot  as  God  has  ordered  it  for  you :  ye'll 
be  thinking  and  thinking  that  perhaps  there's  a 
better  life  waiting  for  ye  somewhere  else " 

"  Yes,  that  is  what  Alan  thinks !  "  cried  Berna- 
dette,  suddenly  and  passionately;  "but  he  doesn't 
understand.  And  when  you  talk  so,  father,  you 
don't  understand  either.  I'm  not  wanting  any 
other  life  than  the  one  you've  given  me  here, — I 
wouldn't  take  any  other  if  I  could  ;  but  how  can 
I  help  sometimes  wondering " 

Her  voice  died  away  in  a  sob ;  and  again  the 
broad,  brown  hand  was  laid  with  gentle  touch 
upon  her  head. 

"  Dinna  greet,  lassie,"  said  the  slow,  grave  voice 
she  knew  so  well.  "It's  natural  ye  should  think 
of  these  things ;  but  if  ye  think  too  much,  harm 


24  A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARC  AD  Y. 

will  come  of  it.  Ye  can  but  leave  it  to  God.  If 
He  ever  means  ye  to  know  more  than  ye  know 
now,  He'll  make  it  clear  in  His  own  time.  And 
meanwhile  it's  well  to  mind  that  we  haven't  but 
one  minute  that  we  can  call  our  own — just  one  lit- 
tle minute.  And  why  should  we  fash  ourselves 
about  the  past  or  the  future  ?  Look ! " — he 
pointed  to  the  great  wheel  that  churned  the  water 
into  foam  and  sent  it  racing  away  in  swift  tumult 
— "  as  I've  often  told  ye,  the  mill  will  never  grind 
again  with  the  water  that  is  past ;  and  we'll  never 
have  one  second  of  our  time  to  live  over  again. 
So,  my  bonnie  bairn,  we  should  nae  poison  it  with 
thoughts  of  what  has  been  or  what  may  be.  We 
canna  change  anything  that  has  been,  and  we 
know  naught  of  what  will  be.  But  the  good  God 
knows,  and  that  is  enough." 

Simplicity  itself,  these  words ;  yet  could  highest 
wisdom  say  more  ?  Perhaps  it  was  the  kind  touch 
of  the  hand  that  lent  them  a  power  to  soothe  and 
quiet  all  the  thoughts  that  the  da}'  had  wakened 
in  Bernadette.  The  impression  made  upon  her 
must  have  been  very  deep;  for  the  scene,  with  all 
its  associations  and  sensations,  remained  indelibly 
fixed  in  her  memory.  Long  years  afterward  she 
could  see  and  feel  everything  as  vividly  as  she  saw 
and  felt  it  then : — the  rushing  wheel,  flinging  away 
the  water  with  which  it  would  never  grind  again, 
as  heedlessly  as  we  fling  away  the  precious  hours 
of  our   time;    the    solemn,  encircling  mountains 


A   LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARCADY.  25 

wrapped  in  their  ineffable  calm:  the  twilight  com- 
ing down  upon  the  fair  valley;  and  the  slow,  wise 
accents  that  bade  her  not  poison  with  vain  regret 
or  futile  anticipation  the  one  short  moment,  which 
is  all  we  can  call  our  own  out  of  the  span  of  life. 


CHAPTER  III. 

Meanwhile,  as  the  summer  gloaming  wrapped 
the  world  in  its  lovely  veil,  a  woman  came  to  the 
door  of  the  plain  but  comfortable  house  that  stood 
above  the  mill  on  a  gentle  elevation,  and  glanced 
down  the  road  to  see  if  there  were  no  signs  of  the 
approach  of  her  absent  family.  She  was  a  refined- 
lookingr  woman  for  her  order  of  life,  with  a  face  ex- 
pressive  both  of  goodness  and  intelligence  ;  great 
shrewdness  in  the  clear  eyes — the  same  eyes  which 
looked  out  of  Alan's  face, — and  great  benignity  in 
the  lines  of  her  mouth.  She  had  been  comely  in 
her  youth,  but  now  retained  little  of  good  looks, 
save  such  as  were  inseparable  from  the  impress 
which  the  soul  in  the  lapse  of  years  sets  upon  its 
dwelling-place.  Her  appearance  was  exquisitely 
neat  and  clean  ;  and  one  could  not  but  feel  that 
this  outward  neatness  was  the  expression  of  an  in- 
ward purity  and  love  of  order,  which  would  be  ex- 
hibited in  every  thought  and  act  of  her  life. 

It  was  certainly  exhibited  in  the  aspect  of  the 
house  in  the  door  of  which  she  stood.  In  every 
nook  and  corner  the  most  absolute  cleanliness 
reigned  ;  the  curtains  which  draped  the  windows, 
though  of  the  simplest  material,  were  immacu- 
lately white;  the  bare  floors  were  almost  dazzling 
(26) 


A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY.  27 

in  their  spotlessness  ;  and  no  particle  of  dust  pro- 
faned tables,  chairs  or  shelves.  The  whole  ap- 
pearance of  the  dwelling  suggested  lives  of  great 
simplicity  and  habits  of  the  utmost  frugality;  but 
no  taint  of  the  sordidness  that  degrades,  or  the 
disorder  that  demoralizes.  One  would  have  said, 
and  said  truly,  that  there  abided  here  the  great 
virtues  of  purity,  simplicity,  self-control,  and  the 
rare  jewel  of  content  which  was  the  priceless  pos- 
session of  simpler  times.  Out  of  such  homes  have 
come  lives  fitted  to  do  some  of  the  world's  great- 
est  work;  for  the  power  of  self-discipline,  "to 
scorn  delights  and  live  laborious  days,"  which  is 
needed  above  all  things  for  great  achievements,  is 
learned  here  as  it  can  hardly  be  learned  amid 
environments  of  luxury  and  wealth. 

Standing  in  the  door  in  the  twilight,  Mrs. 
Cameron  was  not  idle  :  her  quick,  capable  fingers 
were  knitting  on  a  large  stocking  even  while  her 
eyes  glanced  from  the  shade-embowered  roof  of  the 
mill,  of  which  she  could  catch  a  glimpse,  to  the 
road  along  which  she  expected  every  moment  to 
see  her  husband,  her  son,  or  Bernadette  appear. 
And  it  was  not  long  before  this  expectation  wa.i 
fulfilled  in  the  appearance  of  all  three  together 
Through  the  quiet  stillness  their  voices  were 
borne  before  them  to  her  ear,  and  she  smiled  as 
Bernadette's  musical  laugh  rang  out.  She,  too, 
knew  on  what  errand  the  girl  had  gone  this  after- 
noon ;  and  she,  too,  disapproved  of  thoughts  and 


28  A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

recollections  that  might,  it  was  natural  to  suppose, 
lead  to  vague  conjectures  and  useless  repining. 
The  sweet  ringing  laugh,  which  was  always  like 
music  to  her  ear,  was  therefore  on  this  occasion 
peculiarly  so. 

In  fact,  all  shadow  of  sadness  had  left  Berna- 
dette's  face  and  Bernadette's  spirit.  It  was  with 
a  sense  of  relief  that  the  girl  had  thrown  off  the 
recollections  of  the  day.  As  she  had  endeavored 
to  explain  to  Alan,  she  felt  always  as  if  she  owed 
this  day  to  the  memory  of  her  mother, — the 
mother  who  was  so  dim  a  shade  in  her  life  ;  but, 
the  duty  loyalty  paid,  it  was  with  a  quick  rebound 
toward  her  habitual  joyousness  that  she  put  the 
memory  away — for  another  year.  Those  words  at 
the  mill  had  closed  the  subject  for  the  present, 
and  it  was  according  to  her  temperament  that  she 
should  be  the  gayer  now  for  having  been  de- 
pressed. 

"Are  you  waiting  for  us,  mother?  "  she  asked, 
hastening  eagerly  forward,  as  she  discerned  the 
figure  in  the  honeysuckle-draped  porch.  "It  was 
my  fault  that  Alan  was  late,  and  father  waited 
for  him.  Then  we  stopped  a  little  while  in  the 
mill." 

"  There  was  naught  to  do,"  said  Mrs.  Cameron, 
"  so  T  came  out  here  to  see  if  ye  were  coming. 
But  I  was  nae  fashin'  myself  because  you  were 
late.  I  knew  ye  were  not  far  away,  and  would  be 
here  in  time.     Ay,  but  it's  a  good  thing  to  have 


A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARCADY.  29 

one's  folks  so  near  at  hand,"  said  the  woman,  with 
a  sigh  of  content. 

Alan  glanced  at  his  mother  a  little  wistfully. 
"  I'm  thinking  that  I  can't  bide  here  always, 
mother,"  he  said.  "  You  must  let  me  go  some 
day  soon.  It's  time  I  was  beginning  to  do  some- 
thing for  myself." 

"  What  better  can  ye  do,"  asked  his  mother,  a 
little  sharply,  "  than  help  your  father  in  his  work, 
like  a  good  son  ?" 

"Father  doesn't  need  me,"  said  the  boy.  "Old 
Tom  is  better  in  the  mill  than  I  am." 

"  No,"  said  the  father,  laying  his  hand  on  the 
shoulder  which  was  almost  on  a  level  with  his 
own.  "  Nobody  is  better  than  you,  my  son. 
You've  been  a  good  lad  always,  and  done  your 
work  like  a  man.  But  I'm  not  saying  that  ye 
must  bide  here,  for  all  that.  The  lad  must  choose 
his  own  life,  Janet.  He  has  a  right  to  do  so ;  and 
we'll  sa}'  naught  against  it— when  the  time  comes. 
But  bide  a  bit  longer  with  us,  Alan.  Remember, 
4  the  mill  will  never  grind  again  with  the  water 
that  is  past.' " 

"  I'll  bide  always,  if  ye  say  so,  father,"  Alan 
replied,  touched  by  the  kindness  of  these  words. 

"No,  no!  A  man's  life  is  his  own, — it's  like 
his  soul,"  said  the  miller.  "  You  must  choose  for 
yourself,  my  boy;  and  I'll  say  naught  against 
your  choice,  for  I  know  well  you  will  never  seek 
any  way  but  the  upright  one." 


30  A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

Alan  looked  into  his  father's  face  gratefully. 
They  understood  each  other  perfectly,  these  two. 

But  at  this  point  Bernadette  broke  in. 

"  Oh,"  she  cried,  addressing  Alan  with  breath- 
less indignation,  "  you  want  to  go  away  and  leave 
us  !  You  are  none  content  yourself,  and  yet  an 
hour — only  an  hour — ago  you  were  angry  with  me 
because  you  thought  I  was  discontented  !  He's 
fine,  mother  !"  exclaimed  the  girl,  turning  where 
she  was  sure  of  sympathy.  "  He  was  sore  vexed 
with  me  because  he  believed  I  was  discontented, 
and  now  it  is  he  who  is  wanting  to  go!" 

"Ay,  my  lassie,"  said  the  elder  woman,  "ye'U 
find  often  in  life  that  so  it  is.  Men  have  aye  one 
law  for  themselves  and  another  for  women — and 
Alan's  a  true  man.  But  it's  ill  news  that  ye  are 
none  content  with  us,"  she  added,  in  a  tone  of 
reproach. 

"I  am  content,"  Bernadette  reiterated  once 
more.  "But  Alan  thought  I  was  not,  because  I 
talked  of  my  mother  who  is  dead,  and  wondered 
— wouldn't  it  be  strange  if  I  didn't  wonder? — ■ 
who  I  am.  He  was  angry  " — Alan  shook  his  head 
here,  but  no  attention  was  paid  to  this  protest, — 
"  and  now  it's  he  who  talks  of  going  away !" 

"  He'll  bide  where  he  is,"  said  the  mother,  with 
the  sharp  decision  of  one  who  felt  that  this  was 
not  perhaps  the  last  word.  "  We'll  have  no  more 
talk  about  it.  Eh,  God  be  good  to  us,  but  I'm 
thinking  there's  bad  luck  in  this  day,"  she  mur- 


A   LITTLE   MAID    OF    ARCADY.  31 

mured  to  herself,  as  she  turned  and  entered  the 
house. 

But  all  painful  and  disagreeable  subjects  seemed 
put  away  and  forgotten  when,  a  little  later,  the 
family  group  assembled  around  their  evening 
meal.  And  then  might  have  been  seen  how  much 
the  joyousness  of  the  household  depended  on  its 
youngest  member.  It  was  her  gay  chatter  that 
made  Alan  laugh,  and  drew  the  slow  smile  to  his 
father's  lips ;  while  Mrs.  Cameron  looked  at  the 
sweet,  bright  face  with  eyes  that  plainly  found  in 
it  their  sunshine. 

After  supper  the  miller  lighted  his  pipe  and  sat 
in  the  door,  where  he  could  command  both  the 
lamp-lighted  room  and  the  now  moonlight-flooded 
valley,  around  which  the  solemn  mountains  stood 
wrapped  in  silver  mist,  and  where  the  voice  of  the 
stream  filled  all  the  fair,  still  night  with  its  music. 
Within,  Mrs.  Cameron  knitted ;  Bernadette,  all 
things  having  been  put  in  order,  bent  her  head 
over  a  basket  of  patchwork ;  and  Alan  read  aloud 
one  of  those  wonderful  tales  of  the  Wizard  of  the 
North,  of  which  none  of  them  ever  tired. 

New  books  in  the  house  there  were  none,  but 
the  complete  works  of  Scott,  the  poems  of  Burns, 
Aytoun's  "Lays  of  the  Cavaliers,"  "the  Lives  of 
the  Saints,"  and  "  The  Imitation  of  Christ."  A 
small  library ;  yet  in  how  many  a  greater  is  less 
contained,  and  from  how  many  a  greater  has  less 
been  drawn !     Impossible  to  say  that  these  people 


32  A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

were  devoid  of  culture  when  they  fed  on  such 
literature  as  this.  No  vulgar,  sensational  fiction 
debased  their  taste;  no  theories,  political  or  other- 
wise, of  modern  unrest  and  greed  corrupted  their 
minds.  The  enchantment  which  never  has  been 
drawn  in  such  full  measure  as  from  the  pages  of 
"  Waverley,"  of  "  Quentin  Durward,"  of  "  The 
Talisman,"  and  "  Rob  Roy,"  was  for  them  a  per- 
ennial spring  of  delight.  Poetry,  which  has  for 
its  divine  office  to  touch  man's  heart  to  tender- 
ness, and  fire  his  spirit  to  heroism,  spoke  to  them 
in  the  immortal  verse  of  Burns  and  the  trumpet- 
like lays  of  Aytoun.  If  their  imagination  fed  on 
the  heroic  splendor  of  past  ages,  if  the  wondrous 
romance  of  history  opened  its  vistas  before  them, 
as  they  read  of  the  knights  who  went  forth  to 
fight  for  the  Holy  Sepulchre;  of  the  soldier  of 
fortune  in  the  court  of  France ;  of  the  tale,  to 
wring  a  Highland  heart,  of  "  how  the  plaided  clans 
came  down"  for  the  last  time  in  the  dark  days  of 
the  '45,  the}r  were  not  likely  to  mistake  the  mean- 
ing of  any  of  it ;  while  the  Church  called  her  roll 
of  honor  for  them,  and  pointed  to  her  saints  in 
every  court  and  camp,  as  well  as  in  every  cloister, 
through  the  long  ages. 

To  the  older  people  the  well-known  tales  were 
like  the  echoes  of  their  vouth  ;  as  thev  listened, 

%j  '  %j  ' 

the  unfamiliar  scenes  of  the  New  World  faded 
away,  and  Highland  heath  and  glen  rose  again  be- 
fore  them.     But  to   Alan   and    Bernadette  they 


A   LITTLE   MAID    OF   ARC  AD  Y.  33 

were  enchantment  pure  and  simple.  The  girl 
especially  listened  with  the  light  of  imagination 
all  kindled  and  glowing  in  her  eyes ;  and  when 
the  story  was  done,  it  was  her  delight  to  supple- 
ment it  by  some  of  her  poetry  which  they  all,  but 
she  especially,  loved.  She  knew  by  heart  whole 
cantos  of  "The  Lady  of  the  Lake''  and  "The 
Lord  of  the  Isles,"  and  would  repeat  them  with  a 
dramatic  fervor  wholly  natural  and  untaught.  Or 
she  would  tell,  in  the  words  of  his  old  soldier* 
"how  the  Great  Marquis  died,"  and  her  voice 
would  quiver  with  emotion  over  the  passionate 
outburst : 

"  Had  I  been  there  with  sword  in  hand, 

And  fifty  Camerons  by, 
That  day  through  high  Dunedin's  streets 

Had  pealed  the  slogan  cry. 
Not  all  their  troops  of  trampling  horse, 

Nor  might  of  mailed  men, 
Not  all  the  rebels  in  the  South, 

Had  born  us  backwards  then ! 
Once  more  his  foot  on  Highland  heath 

Had  trod  as  free  as  air, 
Or  I,  and  all  who  bore  my  name, 

Been  laid  beside  him  there!" 

"Ay,  lassie,  ye  should  be  a  Cameron  yourself," 
the  elder  of  that  name  would  often  say,  when  this 
their  favorite  lay  had  been  given.  "  Ye  would 
hae  liked  well  the  gathering  of  the  clan." 

"But  I  am  a  Cameron,"  she  would  answer. 
"  You  have  made  me  one ;  and  Alan  and  I  are 
3 


34  A   LITTLE  MAID   OF    ARCADY. 

going  back  to  Scotland  when  we  are  grown.  We 
want  to  see  all  the  famous  places  we  have  read 
about." 

"  Ay,  it's  a  bonnie  laud  !"  said  the  Highlander, 
with  a  tone  in  his  voice  that  told  of  a  yearning  to 
look  on  it  himself  once  more.  "  I'm  nae  speaking 
of  the  whole  of  Scotland,  for  the  Lowlands  I  dinna 
ken  ;  but  the  Hielands — there's  naught  too  much 
to  say  of  the  Hielands, — eh,  Janet,  my  woman?' 

And  then  one  or  the  other  would  tell  some  of 
the  imforgotten  tales  and  traditions  of  their  native 
land,  until  both  Alan  and  Bernadette  were  as 
steeped  in  Highland  lore  as  if  Highland  hills  en- 
circled them  instead  of  those  heights,  across  which 
Spotswood  once  led  his  Knights  of  the  Golden 
Horseshoe  in  search  of  Eldorado. 

The  evening  of  this  day  was  an  evening  like 
that  of  countless  others.  Alan  read  aloud  some 
chapters  of  "  The  Fair  Maid  of  Perth ; "  they 
talked  of  subjects  which  the  story  suggested  ;  then 
the  Rosary  was  said  together,  and  they  retired 
early,  as  is  the  custom  of  such  simple  lives.  But 
it  chanced  that  as  Bernadette  went  to  close  her 
window  and  looked  out  on  the  wonderful,  moonlit 
world,  she  caught  the  gleam  of  something  white 
beyond  the  small  garden,  which  she  knew  to  be 
the  cross  of  painted  wood  which  marked  her 
mother's  grave.  The  sight  brought  back  all  those 
memories  of  the  day  which  she  had  for  a  time  put 
aside.     A  poignant  sense  of  strangeness  and  isola- 


A  LITTLE   MAID   Ot    ARCADE.  35 

tion  came  over  her.  Bound  as  she  was  to  this 
roof,  and  to  those  who  rested  under  it,  by  ties  of 
enduring  affection  and  gratitude,  that  grave  was 
in  reality  all  that  she  could  claim  as  her  own  in 
the  wide  world.  She  suddenly  stretched  out  her 
arms  toward  it.  "  O  mother,  mother,  if  you  could 
speak  to  me, — if  you  could  tell  me  !  "  she  whis- 
pered. "  Who  am  I  ?  What  am  I  ?  If  I  knew 
— if  I  but  knew — I  would  be  satisfied.  I  would 
never  think  of  it  again." 

Only  the  silence  of  the  night — silence  serene, 
impenetrable  as  the  mystery  she  longed  to  solve — 
answered  her.  But  afar,  beyond  the  encircling 
mountains,  the  answer  was  even  then  coming  to 
her,  as  all  things  come  with  time, — an  answer 
which  was  to  change  the  whole  course  and  mean- 
ing of  her  life. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

It  was  in  October — one  of  those  mellow,  balmy 
days  when  the  mountains  are  flaming  with  gor- 
geous tints,  and  the  soft,  blue  haze  hangs  over  them 
like  smoke, — that  a  traveller  rode  to  the  door  of 
the  Cameron  house,  just  as  the  sun  was  going 
down,  and  asked  if  he  could  obtain  lodging  for 
the  night.  Pie  was  a  young  man,  well  mounted, 
not  at  all  wayworn  ;  and  so  evidently  belonging  to 
the  holiday  class  of  tourists  that,  although  these 
hospitable  people  always  received  travellers  who 
really  needed  rest  or  refreshment,  Mrs.  Cameron 
felt  no  hesitation  in  telling  him  that  there  was  a 
railroad  station  and  house  of  entertainment  a  few 
miles  farther  on,  and  in  advising  him  to  push  for- 
ward to  that  destination.  He  seemed  reluctant  to 
do  so;  but,  finding  that  she  was  determined  not 
to  receive  him,  at  last  had  no  alternative  but  to 
say  good-evening,  in  rather  an  aggrieved  tone,  and 
ride  off. 

As  has  been  stated,  the  road  from  the  house  led 
down  a  somewhat  steep  declivity,  to  the  creek 
where  stood  the  mill;  and  this  green,  beautiful 
spot  was  a  favorite  haunt  of  Bernadette's.  In  the 
late  afternoon,  when  the  tasks  of  the  day  were  all 
done,  it  was  her  custom  to  stroll,  as  she  always 
(36) 


A   LITTLE   MAID    OF    ARC  AD  Y.  37 

said,  "down  to  the  mill  "  ;  but  not  often  did  she 
enter  that  noisy  and  dusty  place.  She  preferred 
to  nestle  in  some  leafy  covert  near  by,  with  book 
or  work;  to  watch  the  great  wheel  churn  the 
water  into  white  foam,  or  the  still,  fairy  like  beauty 
of  the  race.  And  here  she  was  on  the  afternoon 
in  question, — comfortably  ensconced  on  the 
gnarled,  moss-cushioned  roots  of  a  large  tree — a 
great  sycamore  with  widespreading  boughs ;  her 
knitting  dropped  unheeded  in  her  lap;  her  pretty, 
sunburned  hands  clasped  behind  her  head,  as  the 
head  leaned  indolently  against  the  trunk  of  the 
tree,  and  her  whole  attitude  one  of  supreme  com- 
fort and  grace. 

As  she  set  in  this  sylvan  nook,  with  deep  green 
shade  all  around  her,  she  looked  as  if  her  day- 
dreams might  well  have  been  of  fairy  princes  or 
errant  knights,  or  some  brave  chevalier  who 
should  come  to  the  rescue  of  a  fair  captive  im- 
prisoned in  a  dreary  wood.  Only  Bernadette,  be- 
ing a  practical  little  soul,  was  in  truth  full  of  much 
more  practical  thoughts.  She  was  considering 
what  could  possibly  have  become  of  the  brown  hen 
(her  own  especial  property),  which  had  retired  to 
some  remote  corner  of  the  domestic  world  for  sit- 
ting purposes,  thereby  causing  her  mistress  much 
concern  of  mind  and  exercise  of  body — when  the 
unusual  sound  of  a  hoof-stroke  made  her  start  and 
turn.     To  her  surprise,  she  saw  a  stranger  riding 


38  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARC  AD  Y. 

down — upon  her,  as  it  seemed — to  the  creek,  as  it 
really  proved. 

Passing  within  two  feet  of  her  bowery  nook,  the 
stranger  in  question  could  not  avoid  seeing  the 
face  turned  wonderingly  toward  him.  But  he  had 
not  time  for  more  than  a  momentary  glance  at  its 
loveliness.  He  was  riding  at  a  sharp  pace  down 
hill,  and  could  not "  pull  up  "  until  he  was  in  the 
stream.  Then,  under  the  shallow  pretext  of 
watering  a  horse  which  had  plainly  been  so  lately 
watered  that  he  would  not  even  condescend  to  sip 
a  draught  of  the  sparkling  current  dashing  round 
his  legs,  this  gentleman  stopped  and  stared.  It 
was  some  excuse  for  him,  perhaps,  that  he  had 
never  in  all  his  life  before  seen  half  so  pretty  a 
picture  at  which  to  stare.  But  after  a  few  minutes 
Bernadette  grew  rather  restive  ;  and,  childlike  as 
she  was,  felt  instinctively  that  the  admiration 
of  those  handsome  eyes  was  too  unrestrained  to 
be  quite  respectful.  She  remembered  with  a  sense 
of  relief  that,  although  her  father  and  Alan  were 
absent,  old  Tom  was  in  the  mill ;  and  she  gath- 
ered her  knitting  preparatory  to  seeking  that  noisy 
refuge,  it  being  the  nearest  at  hand. 

But  as  she  rose  the  horseman  turned,  and  much 
to  her  dismay,  rode  abruptly  up  the  bank.  Hav- 
ing gained  her  side,  he  reined  in  his  horse,  raised 
his  hat,  and  spoke  with  consummate  hypocrisy. 

"  Will  you  be  kind  enough  to  tell  me  if  this  is 
the  right  road  to  Norris's?  "  naming  the  house  to 


A  LITTLE  MAID   OF  AECADY.  39 

which  Mrs.  Cameron  had  directed  him.  "  I  am 
anxious  to  reach  there  as  soon  as  possible;  but  I 
fear  I  have  mistaken  the  way." 

"No:  you  are  quite  right,"  said  Bernadette, 
blushing  at  this  sudden  address,  and  looking 
lovelier  than  ever.  "  Norris's  is  just  there,"  said 
she,  stretching  out  one  arm  and  pointing  in  an  ex- 
ceedingly indefinite  manner  along  the  valley.  "  I 
don't  think  you  can  miss  it  if — if  you  keep 
straight  on." 

"  But  that  is  the  difficulty,"  continued  the 
young  man,  smiling,  evidently  determined  at  all 
hazards  to  prolong  the  conversation.  "  These 
mountain  roads  of  yours  do  anything  in  the  world 
but  keep  straight  on ;  and  I  am  sure  there  are  at 
least  a  dozen  forks  between  this  and  Norris's." 

"  There  are  several,"  confessed  Bernadette  ; 
"but  I  don't  think  the}7  will  trouble  you  much. 
It's  a  very  plain  road.  The  station  is  quite  far 
off,  and  I'm  afraid  you'll  be  late  getting  there 
if—" 

If  you  stay  here  much  longer,  she  was  on  the 
point  of  adding ;  but  an  uneasy  sense  of  what 
was  due  to  civility  interfered. 

"I  am  afraid  I  shall,"  said  he  gravely,  but  made 
no  sign  toward  departure.  "Good  heavens!  how 
does  such  an  exquisite  creature  chance  to  be 
here?  "  he  thought.  Then  aloud  :  "  My  horse  is 
nearly   broken  down  with  the  day's  journey.     Is 


40  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

there  anv  house  on  the  road  where  I  can  obtain 
lodging  for  the  night  ? ' 

"  Strangers  sometimes  stay  with  us,"  said  inno- 
cent Bernadette.  "  I  am  sure  my  mother  will  be 
very  glad  to  take  you  in.  If  you  say  so,  I  will  go 
and  ask  her." 

"  I  am  afraid  I  should  give  you  the  trouble  fur 
nothing,"  answered  the  gentleman.  "  If  the  good 
woman  up  there,"  he  nodded  toward  the  house, 
uis  your  mother,  I  asked  her  myself  a  little  while 
ago,  and  she  declined  to  take  me  in." 

Bernadette  looked  a  little  crestfallen.  It  is  not 
pleasant  to  offer  hospitality  and  then  be  forced  to 
retract  the  invitation. 

"  I  am  sure  she  did  not  know  that  you  were 
tired,"  said  she,  apologetically. 

"  I  am  half  inclined  to  go  back  and  try  my  luck 
over  again,''  said  he,  looking  at  the  face  before 
him.  "  What  do  you  say  ?  Would  you  advise 
me  to  do  it?  " 

Bernadette  broke  into  a  smile,  which  revealed 
the  charming  dimples  round  her  mouth.  "  I  don't 
know,"  she  answered,  doubtfully.  "  Of  course  I 
can't  promise  that  my  mother  will  take  you  in ; 
but,  then,  you  see,  it  is  getting  later  all  the 
time." 

"  So  it  is,  and  Norris's  is  a  long  way  off,"  he 
added,  joining  in  the  smile.  "  I  am  sure  your 
mother  won't  have  the  heart  to  send  me  on  my 
weary  way,  without  even  a  moon  to  light  it  for 


A   LITTLE   MAID    OF    ARC  AD  Y.  41 

me.  Therefore  " — dismounting  from  his  horse  and 
passing  the  bridle  over  his  arm, — "  I  believe,  I  will 
go  back  and  throw  myself  on  her  tender  mercy." 

And  so  it  chanced  that  when  Mrs.  Cameron 
went  to  the  door  to  see  if  Bernadette  was  not 
coming — it  was  growing  late,  and  the  sun  had 
long  since  gone, — she  was  astonished  at  sight  of 
that  young  person  slowly  sauntering  up  the  hill, 
attended  by  a  cavalier,  to  whom  she  was  chatter- 
ing with  all  the  gay  freedom  of  a  child. 

"  Bernadette  ! "  said  the  good  woman,  with  a 
gasp.  But  Bernadette,  in  delighful  unconscious- 
ness of  having  done  anything  at  all  reprehensible, 
at  once  sprang  forward  eagerly. 

"  O  mother !  here's  a  gentleman  who  tried  to 
get  you  to  take  him  in  a  little  while  ago,  and  he 
says  you  wouldn't ;  but  I  told  him  I  was  sure  you 
didn't  know  how  tired  he  is,  or  how  broken  down 
his  horse  is,  or  else  you  would  gladly  have  let  him 
stay.  And  so  I  brought  him  back;  and — and  it's 
so  late  !  "  cried  the  breathless  supplicant,  playing 
her  trump  card  from  sheer  want  of  a  better  perora- 
tion. 

"  I  told  the  gentleman  that  we  don't  keep  a 
house  of  entertainment ;  and  that,  my  husband 
and  son  being  away,  I  could  not  take  in  a  stran- 
ger," said  Mrs.  Cameron,  coldly.  "If  he  had  not 
stopped,  he  could  have  been  half  way  to  Norris's 
by  this  time." 

Bernadette  opened  her  dark  eyes  to  their  fullest 


42  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF  ARCADY. 

extent.  Never  in  all  her  life  before  had  she  heard 
her  mother  speak  like  this  to  a  stranger  at  her  own 
door.  She  was  amazed  beyond  the  power  of  words 
to  express  ;  and  when  she  turned  her  glance  on 
the  stranger,  she  saw  that  he  felt  the  rebuff  quite 
as  deeply  as  herself.  He  colored  in  a  manner 
which  proved  the  possession  of  no  inconsiderable 
amount  of  temper,  and  drew  back  very  stiffly. 

"  I  beg  pardon,  madam,  for  returning  and  seem- 
ing to  thrust  myself  upon  your  hospitality,"'  said 
he.  "  Of  course  I  need  not  say  that  I  withdraw 
my  request,  that  I  shall  not  trouble  you  any 
farther,  and  that  I  have  the  honor  to  bid  you 
good-evening." 

He  lifted  his  hat  grandly  ;  then  turned  and  held 
out  his  hand  to  Bernadette.  "  Thank  you  for 
your  kind  intentions,"  he  said  softly,  interpreting 
rightly  the  half-grieved,  half-astonisned  look  in 
her  eyes.  "  You  would  shelter  me,  I  am  sure  ; 
and  I  feel  quite  as  grateful  as  if  you  had  done  so. 
Good-bye  !  " 

"  Good-bye  !  "  echoed  Bernadette,  giving  a  be- 
seeching, reproachful  glance  to  her  mother. 

It  was  a  glance  that  Mrs.  Cameron's  conscience 
fully  appreciated,  and  the  meaning  of  which  it 
fully  echoed.  It  was  late  ;  Norris's  was  a  long 
way  off;  and  was  it  fancy,  or  did  the  stranger's 
horse  limp  ?  She  tried  to  harden  her  heart ;  but 
the  instinct  of  hospitality  was  stronger  than  the 


A   LITTLE   MAID    OF   AKCADY.  43 

instinct  of  caution,  and  so  the  words — fateful 
words,  as  it  proved — were  spoken. 

uStop  a  minute,  sir,"  she  said,  a  little  stiffly. 
"  I'm  loth  to  turn  anybody  from  my  door  with 
night  so  near  at  hand  as  it  is  now.  I  should  have 
liked  better  for  you  to  go  to  Norris's  ;  but  as  you 
are  here  now  you  are  welcome  to  stay,  if  you  will. 
Only  if  you  stay  you  must  needs  look  after  your 
own  horse  ;  for  we've  no  man  upon  the  place." 

"  Thanks  !  "  said  the  stranger,  abandoning  his 
dignity  with  shameful  promptitude.  "I  will  stay 
with  pleasure,  madam,  and  am  much  obliged  to 
you.  As  for  looking  after  my  horse,  that  is  very 
easily  done,  if  " — glancing  at  Bernadette — "  you 
will  kindly  show  me  the  stable." 

A  nod  from  her  mother  giving  permission,  Ber- 
nadette led  him  to  a  log  stable  some  distance  in 
the  rear  of  the  house,  where  an  empty  stall  showed 
the  absence  of  its  rightful  occupant.  She  stood 
by  while  the  stranger  unsaddled  his  horse,  rubbed 
him  down  a  little — not  verv  much, — and  then 
opened  the  door  of  the  corn-crib,  and  indicated  the 
loft  full  of  hay  and  oats. 

"  This  is  capital !  "  said  the  young  man.  "We 
couldn't  possibly  desire  better  quarters — eh,  Tris- 
tram, old  fellow?  Now  if  you  will  extend  3-0 ur 
good  offices  to  me,  and  show  me  where  I  can  wash 
off  some  of  the  dust  of  the  road,"  he  added  turn- 
ing to  the  girl,  "  I  shall  be  obliged  indeed." 

"  Oh,  certainly  !  "  she  answered.     "  If  you  have 


44  A   LITTLE   MAID   OF   AKCADY. 

all  you  need  for  the  horse,  we  will  go  back  to  the 
house,  where  mother  will  give  you  a  room." 

"I  am  quite  ready  now,"  he  said;  and  they 
turned  to  retrace  their  steps. 

The  twilight  had  by  this  time  descended  upon 
the  world,  wrapping  all  things  in  its  mantle.  The 
breath  of  the  October  evening  was  chill,  and  the 
blue  haze  of  the  day  was  turning  to  silvery  mist 
on  the  great  shoulders  of  the  mountains.  Over 
the  western  peaks  a  few  cloudlets,  that  had  been 
crimson  but  were  now  turning  to  pearly  grey,  still 
floated ;  while  in  the  eastern  half  of  the  heaven 
the  silver  shield  of  a  three-quarter  moon  rose  high 
in  the  vast  field  of  blue  ether.  The  young  man 
looked  around  with  a  glance  that  took  in  every 
feature  of  the  scene,  and  then  returned  to  rest  on 
the  face  beside  him. 

"  I  have  not  yet  thanked  }'Ou,"  said  the  young 
man,  as  they  walked  toward  the  house,  "  for  giving 
me  the  weight  of  your  influence,  and  so  enabling 
me  to  find  myself  in  such  good  quarters." 

"  You  are  very  welcome,"  answered  Bernadette, 
shyly :  adding  after  a  pause,  "  I  am  sure  my 
mother  wouldn't  have  made  any  difficulty  about 
letting  you  stay,  only  she  never  likes  to  take  in 
strangers  when  father  and  Alan  are  both  away." 

"  But  surely  I  don't  look  as  if  I  would  rob  or 
murder  you,  do  I  ?  " 

"  Oh,  no  ! '  very  hastily.  "  But — but  yen 
see " 


A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARCADY.  45 

"  There  is  no  telling  under  what  disguises  rob- 
bers and  murderers  may  conceal  themselves,"  he 
remarked,  laughing  and  finishing  her  sentence. 
"  That  is  very  true  ;  but  your  mother  may  lock 
me  in,  if  that  will  give  her  any  greater  feeling  of 
security." 

He  forgot  that  he  was  not  talking  to  one  of  the 
women  of  his  own  world.  Bernadette,  knowing 
very  little  of  badinage,  first  opened  her  eyes,  and 
then  feared  she  had  failed  in  one  of  the  duties  of 
hospitality. 

"  Oh,  indeed,"  said  she  earnestly,  "  we  would 
not  think  of  such  a  thing  !  We  know  better  than 
to  take  honest  people  for — for  such  people  as  you 
are  talking  about.     Mother  never  meant " 

But,  seeing  his  mistake,  he  cut  short  her  apol- 
ogy- 

"  She  only  meant  to  use  a  very  sensible  precau- 
tion," said  he.  "And  in  return  for  your  and  her 
kindness,  I  promise  you  that  if  any  robbers  should 
attack  the  house  to-night  I  will  do  my  best  toward 
defending  it.  Indeed,"  with  an  amused  tone  in 
his  voice,  "I  should  not  mind  waiting  for  them  till 
to-morrow  night  if  they  do  not  make  their  appear- 
ance to-night." 

"  Father  and  Alan  will  be  at  home  to-morrow 
night,"  said  Bernadette,  laughing  in  turn. 

"  Who  is  Alan  ?     Your  brother  ?  " 

"  Yes,  my  brother,"  she  replied,  quite  innocently; 


16  A   LITTLE   MAID    OF   ARCAPY. 

for  indeed  she  had  almost  forgotten  that  the  tie 
between  them  was  not  of  nature's  own  making. 

"And is  he  older  or  younger  than  yourself?  " 

"  Oh,  Alan  is  almost  a  man !  He  is  seventeen, 
and  I  am  only  fifteen." 

"  Indeed!  "  said  the  gentleman.  And  for  a  mo- 
ment he  had  nothing  else  to  say.  Presently,  how- 
ever, he  broaehed  a  different  topic.  "  This  is  a 
beautiful  place,"  glancing  up  at  the  grand,  gird- 
ling peaks  that  looked  so  serenely  down  upon 
them.    "  Do  you  live  here  always  ?  " 

"Alwjiys,"  answered  she,  simply. 

"  Do  you  never  go  elsewhere  ?  " 

"  Oh,  yes!"  with  animation.  "  I  very  often  go 
to  Norris's,  and  sometimes  I  go  to  Wynne."  (This 
was  a  town  distant  some  forty  miles  on  the  rail- 
road) . 

"  Nowhere  else  ?  " 

"Nowhere  else,  except,"  with  a  regretful  sigh, 
"  to  the  best  place  of  all — the  Springs." 

"  You  have  been  there,  then  ?  "  said  he,  a  little 
surprised. 

"  Once,"  she  answered ;  adding  after  a  minute, 
"  it  was  this  summer  at  the  grand  ball — fancy  ball 
I  think  they  called  it.  Mother  said  I  might  go 
over  with  Alan  and  look  on.  So  we  went ;  and 
Alan  got  me  a  good  place  at  a  window,  and  " — a 
long,  deep-drawn  breath — "  I  saw  it  all." 

"  And  what  did  you  think  of  it?  Did  it  look 
like  fairyland?" 


A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY.  47 

"I  don't  know,"  doubtfully  ;  "  but  it  was  very 
pretty,  and  everybody  looked  so  happy.  I  thought 
I  would  like  to  be  in  there  and  be  happy  too." 

"  Poor  child  ! '  He  spoke  half  unconsciously, 
because,  as  it  chanced,  he  had  been  there  on  the 
night  in  question,  and  had  been  anything  but 
happy.  It  is  never  a  pleasant  thing  to  see  the 
woman  with  whom  you  imagine  yourself  desper- 
ately in  love  flirting  as  hard  as  possible  with  a  man 
whom  you  detest — whom  you  would  detest  if  he 
had  been  your  bosom-friend  five  hours  before. 
"  Poor  child  !  Does  it  never  occur  to  }tou  that  all 
is  not  gold  which  glitters,  and  that  there  may  have 
been  plenty  of  people  there  who  were  not  happy  ?" 

"Ah,  but  I  should  have  been !  "  said  she,  with 
the  resistless  and  quite  unanswerable  logic  of  in- 
experience. "  I  should  have  been  happy  if  I  had 
been  as  pretty  and — and  dressed  like  one  lady  I 
saw." 

"  And  who  was  she  ?  " 

"  She  was  not  a  lady  either :  she  was  a  girl  of 
about  my  age  ;  but  Alan  and  I  both  thought  her 
the  prettiest  person  there.  She  was  dressed  as  a 
fairy,  and  some  one  said  her  name  was  Miss 
Chesselton." 

"  Ah ! "  said  the  young  man,  with  a  smile. 
"  In  that  case  I  shall  certainly  tell  her  of  your  ad- 
miration." 

"Do  you  know  her?  "  cried  she,  eagerly. 


48  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADVT. 


"I  think  I  am  justified  in  saying  that  I  know 
her  a  little.     She  is  my  sister." 

"  Indeed  !  "  said  Bernadette. 

And  in  reality  if  he  had  claimed  kinship  with 
one  of  the  planets  now  beginning  to  gleam 
brightly  over  their  heads,  she  could  scarcely  have 
been  more  impressed.  She  walked  along  for  some 
time  in  silence,  until  at  last  a  sudden  thought 
seemed  to  strike  her. 

"  Then,"  said  she,  "you  name  must  be  Chessel- 
ton  too  ?  " 

"  I  believe  I  must  acknowledge  that  it  is,"  he 
said.  "  If  I  do,  will  you  answer  a  question  for 
me?" 

"  Certainly,"  responded  she.  "  Why  shouldn't 
I  ?     It  is  always  civil  to  answer  questions." 

"  Tell  me  then,  '  that  I  may  set  it  in  my  prayers,' 
what  is  your  name  ?  " 

She  looked  at  him  for  an  instant  with  a  slightly 
puzzled  expression  ;  for  she  was  b}'  no  means  so 
familiar  with  Shakespeare  as  with  Scott,  and  the 
lovely  tale  of  Ferdinand  and  Miranda  was  one  she 
had  yet  to  hear.  It  was  not  exactly  the  form  she 
would  have  expected  such  a  question  to  take  from 
this  very  worldly-looking  young  gentleman  ;  yet, 
after,  all,  why  should  not  Christian  people  ask  a 
name  for  such  a  purpose?  To  one  whose  mind 
had  been  nurtured,  as  it  were,  in  the  Ages  of 
Faith  there  was  nothing  remarkable  in  that ;  so, 


A    LITTLE   MAID   OP    ARCADY.  49 

after  an  instant's  hesitation,  she  answered  simply: 
"  My  name  is  Bernadette." 

"  Bernadette  ! '  It  was  so  different  from  any 
name  he  had  expected  to  hear  that  he  was  in  turn 
surprised.  "  What  a  pretty  name,  and  yet  an  un- 
common name,  too  !  It  is  French — do  you  know 
that  ?  " 

uOh,  yes!"  replied  the  bearer  of  the  name,  and 
said  no  more  ;  for  she  dreaded  lest  the  next  ques- 
tion should  be  about  her  nationalit}^,  and  then  the 
story  and  myster}^  of  her  origin  would  have  to  be 
confessed.  The  idea  of  evasion  did  not  occur  to 
her.  If  asked,  she  must  of  course  tell  who  and 
what  she  was — a  waif,  a  strav,  whom  no  one  had 
ever  claimed.  But  she  had  learned  to  shrink 
sensitively  from  the  subject,  and  she  would  cer- 
tainly not  tell  the  story  unless  direct  questions 
made  it  impossible  to  avoid  doing  so. 

Now,  as  we  are  aware,  well-bred  people  do  not 
ask  direct  questions,  especially  on  points  that  re- 
late to  the  private  affairs  of  others  ;  therefore  Mr. 
Chesse-lton  was  constrained  to  take  refuge  in 
silence  again  for  a  few  minutes.  But  his  curiosity 
was  roused ;  and,  thinking  that  with  this  daugh- 
ter of  the  people  he  might  transgress  the  strict 
rules  of  good-breeding,  he  soon  ventured  to  break 
the  silence  with  another  question  : 

"  Your  mother  is  Scotch,  is  she  not  ?  I  judged 
so  from  her  accent." 

"She  is  from  the  Highlands,"  Bernadette  an- 
4 


50  A   LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

swered,  with  a  slight  accent  of  pride,  having  been 
taught  to  regard  this  fact  as  in  some  sort  a  patent 
of  nobility — at  least  as  compared  with  the  misfor- 
tune of  coming  from  the  Lowlands. 

"  Ah,  Highlanders  !  "  said  her  companion.  "  But 
you  do  not  look  in  the  least  like  a  Scotch — I  beg 
pardon,  a  Highland  lassie." 

Truthful  Bernadette  felt  as  if  there  were  no 
escape  from  saying,  "I  do  not  know  what  I  am," 
when  happily  her  mother's  voice  spoke  out  of  the 
gloaming ;  for  they  had  now  closely  approached 
the  house.  That  good  woman  was,  in  fact,  ob- 
serving them  from  the  shadow  of  the  kitchen  door, 
and  regretting  that  she  had  yielded  and  allowed 
this  young  man,  with  his  appearance  and  manner 
so  well  calculated  to  strike  a  maiden's  fancy,  to 
remain  under  her  roof. 

"  Bernadette,"  she  said,  and  her  voice  was 
sharp  with  its  note  of  disapproval,  why  have  you 
been  so  long  when  you  should  have  known  that 
I'd  want  you  here  ?  Look  to  the  supper,  while  I 
show  the  gentleman  to  his  room.  Come  in  this 
way,  sir." 


CHAPTER  V. 

After  supper  Mr.  Chesselton  set  himself  to 
the  task  of  conquering  his  hostess'  reserve,  and  his 
efforts  were  soon  crowned  with  success  of  the  most 
undoubted  kind.  In  truth,  there  is  no  woman  of 
any  age  who  does  not  feel  the  fascination  of  a 
handsome  face  and  a  winning  tongue, — both  of 
which  the  young  man  possessed  in  more  than 
ordinary  degree,  and  the  last  of  which  he  used 
unscrupulously.  Very  soon  the  ice  of  distrust  had 
thawed,  and  Mrs.  Cameron  was  mentally  pro- 
nouncing him  a  most  "  proper  youth,"  as  she 
listened  to  his  easy  flow  of  unassuming  talk.  Be- 
fore long  he  had  volunteered  all  needful  informa- 
tion concerning  himself,  his  name,  and  his  destina- 
tion. He  had  been  on  a  tour  through  the  mount- 
ains with  a  party  of  friends,  from  whom  he  had 
parted  only  the  day  before, — they  taking  the 
homeward  route  ;  he  striking  out  as  directly  as 
possible  for  a  famous  mineral  spring  near  by, 
where  he  expected  to  meet  relatives. 

"  It  is  rather  late  in  the  season  to  be  still  in 
the  mountains,"  he  explained.  "  But  the  waters 
suit  my  grandfather  so  well  that  he  remains  at  the 
Springs  as  late  as  possible  ;  and  of  course  some 
other  member  of  the  family  must  stay  with  him. 

(51) 


52  A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

My  mother  is  there  at  present,  and  I  am  going  to 
join  her." 

"It's  likely  you'll  be  going  home  very  soon 
now,"  said  Mrs.  Cameron,  looking  at  the  bright 
fire  which  leaped  and  sparkled,  and  was  not  in  the 
least  too  warm  for  the  chill  October  night.  "It 
will  be  getting  very  cold  in  the  mountains  before 
long." 

"  Yes,  we  shall  go  home  at  once  ;  they  are  only 
waiting  for  me,"  he  said,  with  an  involuntary  ac- 
cent of  regret  as  he  looked  at  Bernadette. 

The  more  he  looked  at  her — and  that  was  as 
much  as  he  dared, — the  more  puzzled  he  became. 
How  entirely  out  of  keeping  she  seemed  with  all 
her  surroundings,  and  yet  how  completely  at  home 
among  them !  We  are  all  more  or  less  familiar 
with  the  type  of  beauty  (if  that  much-abused 
name  can  be  placed  at  all  in  such  a  connection) 
which  sometimes,  not  often,  is  found  among  the 
agricultural  or  laboring  classes;  we  all  know  how 
entirely  it  is  beauty  merely  by  force  of  comparison, 
or  rather  by  lack  of  good  comparison  ;  and  we  are 
all  aware  that  any  one  of  the  plump,  comely  Dow- 
sabellas,  who  may  possess  a  moderately  smooth 
complexion  or  a  pair  of  bright  eyes,  would  show 
as  a  cart-horse  beside  a  racer,  if  placed  near  any 
ordinarily  pretty  woman  of  good  blood  and  good 
rearing.  Therefore  we  can  all  appreciate  Ches- 
selton's  surprise  at  finding  in  this  rough  mountain 
home  a  beauty  whom  even  his  fastidious  taste — 


A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARCADY.  53 

and  circumstances  had  made  the  young  man  very 
fastidious — pronounced  without  peer  in  the  circle 
of  his  acquaintance.  He  tried  to  find  some  flaw 
in  her, — some  trace  of  the  common  blood  which 
must  flow  in  those  delicate,  azure  veins ;  but  tried 
vainly.  Form  and  face  were  not  only  rarely 
lovely,  but  more  astonishing  still,  purely  highbred. 
Young  as  he  was,  Chesselton  knew  that  Nature 
never  puts  forth  false  pretences,  and  that  the  same 
physical  signs  which  betoken  "  blood  "  in  a  horse 
prove  it  quite  as  conclusively  in  the  human  phys- 
ique. And  so,  watching  Bernadette  as  she  sat  or 
moved  or  spoke,  his  wonder  grew  and  grew 
apace. 

It  was  not  much  satisfaction  to  be  dismissed  to 
bed  after  a  while,  and  far  from  comfortable  to 
dream  brokenly  and  disturbedly  all  the  night 
through  of  that  sweet  face, 

"  With  childhood's  starry  graces  lingering  yet 
I'  the  rosy  orient  of  young  womanhood," 

which  he  had  seen  first  under  the  bowery  shade 
down  by  the  old  mill. 

Perhaps  these  uneasy  slumbers  may  have  been 
the  cause  of  his  early  rising  next  morning ;  or 
perhaps  he  conceived  a  hope — destined,  if  so,  to 
disappointment — that  he  might  in  this  way  com- 
pass another  tete-a-tete  with  Bernadette.  At  all 
events,  the  sun  had  scarcely  sent  the  first  long 
golden  beams  slanting  over  the  mountain  to  the 


64  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

valley  below  when  he  left  the  house,  and,  shiver- 
ing a  little  in  the  chill  air  of  early  morning, 
strolled,  through  very  aimlessness,  into  the  garden. 
Its  appearance  pleased  him,  though  there  were  no 
flowers  left  by  the  cutting  mountain  frosts ;  and 
he  sauntered  to  and  fro  between  the  beds,  and  up 
and  down  the  walks,  looking  absently  at  the  grand 
panorama  around  him,  until  suddenly  the  gay 
strain  which  he  was  whistling  died  on  his  lips,  as 
he  found  himself  without  any  warning  standing  by 
the  side  of  a  well-kept  grave. 

At  first  he  was  a  little  startled ;  then,  recover- 
ing himself,  and  remembering  how  common  this 
mode  of  sepulture  was  in  the  country,  where 
graveyards  proper  were  few  and  far  between,  he 
moved  round,  and,  with  the  curiosity  which  be- 
sets everybody  regarding  headstones,  bent  down 
to  read  the  name  that  had  once  been  borne  by 
the  handful  of  dust  now  lying  like  any  other 
clod  of  earth  at  his  feet.  The  sunlight  slanting 
over  the  stone,  as  he  stooped,  lent  its  aid  to  tell 
him : 

HERE   LIES   THE   BODY 

OF 

MARIAN   ARNAUD, 

WHO   WAS   KILLED   IN   A   RAILROAD   ACCIDENT, 

AUGUST   12,  18 — . 

When  the  young  man  raised  his  face  after  read- 
ing  this   inscription,    its    expression  of    mingled 


A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   AKCADY.  55 

amazement  and  increclulty  might  well  have  aston- 
ished a  spectator,  if  spectator  there  had  been  any. 

"Impossible!"  he  exclaimed  half  aloud,  as  it 
were  in  irrepressible  surprise.  "Impossible!  "  he 
repeated  after  a  whole  minute  had  elapsed,  gazing 
still,  as  if  fascinated,  at  the  few  words  lettered  be- 
fore him. 

But,  impossible  or  not,  at  least  he  could  not  tear 
himself  from  the  spot,  or  remove  his  eyes  from 
that  which  had  so  amazed  him. 

"  Arnaud  !  Marian  Arnaud  ! '  he  said.  "  It 
can  not  be  she  /  and  yet " 

He  stopped,  looking  still  at  the  inscription  that 
said  so  little,  but  suggested  so  much.  And  as  he 
looked  the  incredulity  seemed  to  lessen,  the  amaze- 
ment to  deepen  on  his  face,  Something  like  awe 
came  over  it  as  he  folded  his  arms  and  gazed  stead- 
ily at  the  headstone,  gazed  almost  as  he  might 
have  done  into  a  suddenly  opened  grave. 

"Surely  nobody  would  invent  such  a  lie,"  he 
said  to  himself,  in  a  tone  of  argument.  "  In  God's 
name,  why  should  they  ?  It  can  not  be  false  ;  and 
if  it  is  true,  it  must  be  she :  the  very  date  proves 
it.  How  often  I  have  heard  them  say  that  it  was 
in  that  year  they  lost  all  trace  of  her!  Good 
Heavens  ! "  sitting  down  and  regarding  the  grave, 
"  to  think  that  it  should  be  here,  and  that  I  should 
find  it  by  such  a  mere  chance  !  " 

Mrs.  Cameron,  who  was  busy  setting  out  the 
china — used  only  for  state  occasions — on  the  break- 


56  A  LTTTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

fast  table,  was  much  astonished  when  her  guest 
walk  abruptly  in  upon  her  with  a  very  pale  face. 
He  looked  so  strangely  unlike  the  gay  young  cav- 
alier of  the  preceding  evening  that,  in  her  sur- 
prised dismay,  one  of  the  delicate,  much-prized 
cups  narrowly  escaped  slipping  through  her  fin- 
gers. 

"  Goodness,  Mr.  Chesselton !  '  she  exclaimed. 
"  What  is  the  matter  ?     You  look  so  pale  !  " 

"Mrs.  Cameron,"  said  the  young  man,  coming 
straight  to  the  point  without  any  preface  what- 
ever, "  who  is  that  buried  in  your  garden  ?  " 

"  Good  gracious  !  "  said  Mrs.  Cameron.  "  Why. 
a  poor  lady  who  was  killed  in  the  railroad  acci- 
dent, of  course.  You  might  have  seen  that  on  the 
tombstone." 

"  I  did  see  it.  But  her  name — how  did  you 
know  that  she  was  named  Marian  Arnaud?" 

"  Arnaud  was  on  her  trunk,"  answered  the  good 
woman,  ready  at  once  to  plunge  into  the  history 
of  the  great  event  of  her  life  ;  "  and  Marian  was 
written  in  her  Bible.  Besides,  the  little  one  said 
it  was  her  mother's  name." 

"  The  little  one  !  What  little  one  ?  "  asked  Mr. 
Chesselton. 

"  Why,  Bernadette,"  replied  Mrs.  Cameron, 
looking  with  wonder  at  the  excitement  visible  in 
the  j'oung  man's  startled  face.  "  You  thought  she 
was  my  child,  I  suppose — and  so  she  is  so  far  as 


A   LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARCADY.  57 

love  can  make  her  so  :  but,  all  the  same,  that's  her 
mother  buried  there  in  the  garden." 

"  Her  mother  /" 

He  said  it  to  himself  as  if  he  could  not  realize 
it ;  then  took  a  step  backward  and  sat  down  in  a 
chair  near  by.  Mrs.  Cameron  stood  with  a  cup  in 
her  hand  looking  at  him.  Poor  soul !  some  faint 
instinct  of  the  truth — the  terrible  truth — began  to 
dawn  on  her. 

"  What's  the  matter  ?  "  she  asked  after  a  while, 
with  something — a  little  catch — in  her  voice.  "  I 
said  she  was  Bernadette's  mother ;  what  is  there 
in  that  ?  " 

"  And  Bernadette  is  not  your  own  child, 
then  ?  " 

"  She's  my  child  if  love  can  make  her  so,"  was 
the  somewhat  blunt  reiteration.  "  At  least,  she's 
more  likely  to  be  mine  than  airy  one's  else,  now 
that  her  own  mother  is  gone." 

"  And  you  kept  her  here  all  these  years  without 
even  an  attempt  to  find  her  relations  ! '  said  he, 
almost  fiercely.  "  You  might  have  known  that  she 
must  have  relations." 

"  We  tried  every  way  in  the  world  to  find  her 
relations,"  said  Mrs.  Cameron,  thrown  thus  unex- 
pectedly on  her  own  defence.  "  Do  what  we 
would,  we  were  never  able  to  find  them ,  and  if 
we  kept  her  with  us  it  was  only  because — poor 
darlincr ! — she  had  nowhere  else  to  go.  And  if" 
— was  there  something  of  mingled  fear  and  defi- 


58  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF  AUCADY. 

ance  here? — "if  any  relations  were  to  come  for 
her  now,  I  should  be  like  to  tell  them  that  we  who 
kept  her  and  loved  her  as  our  own  all  these  years 
have  the  best  claim  to  her  and  that — and  that  we 
will  never  give  her  up." 

The  passion  of  the  last  words  seemed  to  touch 
the  young  man.  He  started  and  looked  up  in 
her  face — a  face  working  now  with  powerful  emo- 
tion. 

"I  am  sorry,"  he  said,  almost  gently;  "but, 
unless  there  is  some  strange  mistake  here,  Ber- 
nadette's  relations  have  been  found.  Marian  Ar- 
uaud  was  my  aunt,  and  her  father  is  still  living." 

"  Your — your  aunt  ?  " 

"•Her  name  was  Marion  Ridgelev  before  she 
married  a  Frenchman  named  Arnaud,"  he  said, 
calmly.  "It  is  her  father — my  grandfather — 
whom  I  am  on  my  way  to  join  now." 

The  cup  fell  from  Mrs.  Cameron's  hand,  and 
lay  unheeded  in  a  dozen  fragments  on  the  floor. 
Her  eyes  expanded,  her  face  blanched,  her  trem- 
bling limbs  suddenly  refused  to  support  her,  and 
she  would  have  fallen  if  Mr.  Chesselton  had  not 
sprung  forward  and  placed  a  chair  for  her.  As 
she  sank  into  it,  the  poor  woman  looked  up  at 
him  pitifully. 

"  Give  me  time,"  she  said.  "  I — I  can't  take  it 
in  all  at  once." 

She  did  not  take  it  in — that  is,  she  did  not 
accept  the  conclusion  thrust  upon  her — until  she 


A    LITTLE   MAID    OF   ARCADY.  59 

had  fought  over  every  inch  of  ground  and  con- 
tested every  link  of  proof.  Even  then  she  turned 
fiercely,  like  one  at  bay,  and  refused  to  accept  his 
authority  for  the  facts  pressed  upon  her. 

"  How  can  I  tell  that  you  are  what  you  claim 
to  be  ?  "  she  demanded.  "  For  all  I  know,  you 
may  be  an  impostor  who  thinks  it  an  easy  mattsr 
to  make  an  ignorant  woman  believe  anything. 
Bring  the  grandfather  you  talk  of — bring  your 
proofs  in  black  and  white  !  It's  not  till  then  that 
I"ll— a  great  burst  of  sobs  escaped  her — u  I'll  be- 
lieve that  Bernadette  is  yours  and  not  mine !  ' 

"  I  did  not  expect  you  to  believe  it  without 
proof,*'  said  the  young  man,  almost  humbly. 
Then,  seeing  that  it  was  useless  to  remain,  he 
turned  toward  the  door,  and  in  so  doing  came  face 
to  face  with  Bernadette,  who,  fresh,  bright,  and 
smiling  as  an  incarnation  of  the  morning,  entered 
at  the  moment. 

Entered,  alas  "  to  bid  farewell  forever  to  all  the 
happy  unconsciousness  of  childhood,  to  all  her 
past  childish  years,  to  all  the  untroubled  life 
which  had  flowed  so  evenly  and  so  brightly  until 
now.  Her  blank  amazement  at  first,  her  passion- 
ate grief  and  rebellion  when  she  realized  what 
change  might  be  impending  over  her,  haunted 
Chesselton  long  after  he  had  removed  his  presence 
from  the  house,  where  it  had  become  (as  he  could 
not  avoid  feeling)  thoroughly  obnoxious.  Long 
after  he  had  set  out  in  the  full  glory  of  the  golden 


60  A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

October  day,  with  the  burden  of  this  strange  dis- 
covery upon  him,  the  two  women  still  sobbed 
together;  and  the  girl  repeated  again  and  again, 
in  the  most  affectionate  manner,  as  she  laid  her 
velvet  cheek  against  the  kind  hand  which  had 
cared  so  tenderly  for  her  orphanhood : 

"They  shall  never  take  me  from  you,  mother, — 
never!  " 


CHAPTER  VI. 

At  dusk  of  the  clay  which  witnessed  the  un- 
toward discovery,  the  Camerons,  father  and  son, 
reached  home.  They  had  been  on  a  cattle-selling 
expedition  to  Wynne,  and  returned  much  elated 
by  their  success.  But  their  spirits  went  down 
like  quicksilver  at  touch  of  frost  when  they  heard 
the  news  which  met  them  on  the  threshold.  Ber- 
nadette — their  Bernadette  !  A  stranger  had  dared 
to  talk  of  claiming  her!  Words  were  inadequate 
to  express  their  surprise  and  wrathful  indignation. 

"An  insolent  scoundrel!'  cried  Alan,  almost 
choking  with  rage.  "I  wish  I'd  been  here!  He 
thought  he  could  say  what  he  liked  to  you, 
mother,  being  as  you  are  only  a  woman.  But  I'd 
have  made  short  work  of  sending  him  his  own 
gate, — quicker  than  he  came,  too  !  An  impudent, 
prying—" 

"Have  done  with  that,  Alan,"  said  his  mother, 
sharply;  for  people  can  be  sharp  even  in  the  midst 
of  sorrow.  "  It's  you  who  know  naught  of  what 
you  are  talking  about.  The  young  man  was  very 
much  of  a  gentleman, — I  can  say  that  for  him. 
He  believed  all  he  said,  and  he  tried  to  be  consid- 
erate. Not  but  what  it's  true  enough  that  if  he 
had   gone   on  to    Norris's    when    I    told   him  he 

(61) 


G2  A  LITTLE  MAID   OF  AECADY. 

couldn't  stay,  and  hadn't  met  Bernadette  down  at 
the  mill,  and  come  back  and  in  a  manner  forced 
himself  into  the  house — " 

"  Oh,  how  I  wish  I  had  been  here  !  "  said  Alan, 
clenching  both  his  fists  in  a  sort  of  parenthesis. 

"  Why,  there'd  hae  been  none  o'  this  trouble  at 
all.  And  yet,  God  forgive  me,  I'm  a  selfish 
wretch"  (bursting  into  sudden  tears)  "  to  want 
to  keep  my  prett}^  darling  here,  when  there  are 
fine  gentlefolk"  (Mrs.  Cameron  came  from  the  old 
country  !  )  "  who  will  make  a  lady  of  her." 

"  I  don't  want  to  be  made  a  lady  !  I  won't  be 
made  a  lady  !"  cried  Bernadette,  as  she  threw  her 
arms  around  the  sobbing  speaker,  and  buried  her 
heavy  eyes  and  aching  head  on  that  kind  shoulder. 

Father  and  son  looked  grimly  on.  Tears  and 
sobs  might  do  very  well  for  women,  but  their  feel- 
ings demanded  other  vent.  The  weeping  of  the 
women  added,  however,  to  their  sense  of  injured 
exasperation ;  and  after  a  while  the  elder  man 
spoke,  in  the  slow  fashion  peculiar  to  him : 

"  It's  ill  luck  crying  before  one  is  hurt,  and 
words  without  actions  are  not  like  to  hurt  any- 
body. The  youngster  may  have  been  right  or  he 
may  have  been  wrong ;  but  if  he  said  he  was 
coming  back,  we'll  wait  till  he  comes.  I'm  think- 
ing"— here  lie  glanced  round  the  downcast  circle 
— "  he'll  have  to  come  often  and  wait  long  before 
he  gets  our  bonnie  bairn,  if  he  was  fifty  times  of 
her  kith  and  kin." 


A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARC  AD  Y.  63 

These  few  words,  spoken  with  an  air  of  weight 
and  authority,  seemed  to  raise  the  spirits  of  his 
audience  considerably. 

"Father's  right,"  said  Alan.  "  Let  them  come. 
They've  waited  too  long.  They  might"  (this 
very  doubtfully)  "  have  had  her  when  she  was  a 
wee  bit  lassie,  but  they  can't  have  her  now, — no, 
not  if  all  the  judges  and  juries  in  the  land  said 
so  ! " 

"Never  fash  yourself,  my  lad,  about  judges 
and  juries,"  said  his  father.  "  I'm  thinking  we'll 
settle  this  matter  another  way.  The  lassie  shall 
speak  for  herself.  We  are  none  likely  to  keep 
her  if  she  wants  to  go,  and  she's  old  enough  to 
speak  for  herself." 

Bernadette  raised  her  tear-stained  face  at  this. 
"There's  no  doubt  what  I'll  say,"  she  cried,  with 
a  quiver  in  her  voice.  "I've  told  mother,  and  I 
tell  you,  father,  and  you,  Alan,  that  if  }^ou  want 
me,  I'll  stay  with  you — yes,  if  the  whole  world 
came  to  carry  me  away  ! ' 

Poor,  passionate  voice  !  Poor,  passionate  heart, 
heaving  so  tumultuously  !  Poor,  passionate  tears, 
that  broke  forth  again  !  It  was  pitiable  to  see  into 
what  a  state  of  excitement  the  child  had  wrought 
herself. 

"  If  we  want  you  ! '  cried  Alan,  in  a  high  key 
of  indignation.  "  That's  a  fine  way  to  talk,  Ber- 
nadette !  You'll  be  asking  father  and  mother  next 
if  they  want  me,  I'll  be  bound  your  fine  kinsfolk 


64  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   AUCADY. 

— if  they  are  your  kinsfolk — will  never  want  you 
half  so  much  as  we  do." 

"I've — I've  not  got  any,"  sobbed  Bernadette. 
"  You  all  are  the  only  kinsfolk  I  want." 

"  We've  done  our  best  by  you,  little  lassie," 
said  the  elder  man,  as  he  laid  his  hand — so  toil- 
hardened  and  roughened,  yet  so  gentle  withal — on 
the  bowed  head,  with  its  falling  masses  of  soft, 
silken  hair.  "  We've  done  our  best  by  you  ;  and 
mayhap — but  it's  not  for  man  to  read  the  future. 
I'm  thinking  you'll  just  make  yourself  ill  if  ye 
greet  much  more.  Janet,  my  woman,  cheer  up, 
and  set  the  bairn  a  good  example.  Ye  haven't 
told  me  the  news  from  the  mill  yet,  any  way." 

"There's  no  much  to  tell,"  said  Mrs.  Cameron, 
wiping  her  e}Tes.  "  Jack  Harris  brought  over  some 
wheat  to  be  ground  this  afternoon  ;  but  old  Tom 
went  home  about  dinner-time,  saying  he  was  no 
well,  and  so  there  was  nobody  to  do  it." 

"Old  Tom  went  home,  did  he?'  said  Alan. 
"  Hang  the  old  rascal !  — he's  always  complaining. 
I  say,  Bernadette,  don't  you  want  to  take  a  turn 
with  me  down  to  the  mill  to  see  if  all  is  right  ?  " 
Bernadette  knew  very  well  that  this  was  only  an 
excuse  to  divert  her  mind ;  for  old  Tom  was 
very  careful,  and  not  likely  to  have  neglected  any- 
thing. But  she  accepted  the  kindness  as  it  was 
meant ;  and,  saying  meekly,  "  Yes,  Alan,"  threw 
a  shawl  over  her  head  and  went  with  him. 

The  shawl  was  needed ;  for  the  night  was  cold, 


A   LITTLE    MAID    OF    ARCADY.  65 

though  still  and  marvelously  beautiful.  The 
moon,  high  in  the  heavens,  poured  floods  of  silver 
radiance  over  the  scene,  until  the  mist  clothing 
the  hills  was  like  a  fairy  garment,  and  the  very 
ground  sparkled,  so  that  they  seemed  to  tread  on 
precious  stones. 

"  What  a  lovely  night ! '  said  Bernadette,  for- 
getting her  grief  for  a  moment.  "  O  Alan,  isn't  it 
pretty  ?  " 

"Hm!  yes — very  pretty,"  replied  Alan;  "but 
cold — Bernadette,  do  you  think  you  can  beat  me 
in  a  race  to  the  mill  ?  " 

"  I  knoiv  I  can,"  said  Bernadette. 

"Let's  try,  then.  Even  now — don't  cheat! 
Left  foot  forward — one,  two,  three!" 

They  were  off  like  a  flash,  down  the  hillside  path 
to  the  mill.  Bernadette  was  a  very  Atalanta,  and 
in  her  eagerness  to  win  the  race  she  did  not  hesi- 
tate to  part  with  ever}^  incumbrance  to  her 
speed.  Alan,  who  was  hopelessly  beaten,  came  at 
a  steady  trot  up  to  the  tryst,  with  her  discarded 
shawl  draped  across  his  shoulders. 

"Beaten,  beaten — badly  beaten!"  said  he. 
"  Bernadette,  }tou  can  run  like  a  rabbit." 

"  You  would  have  run  better  if  you  hadn't 
stopped  for  my  shawl,"  answered  Bernadette. 
"  See  about  the  mill.  I'll  sit  down  here  until  vou 
comeback." 

It  was  the  spot  where  she  had  been  sitting  the 
svening  before  when  the  stranger  rode  down  upon 
5 


66  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

her,  and  it  could  not  but  waken  remembrance  of 
him.  So  it  followed  that  the  pretty  face  on  which 
the  moonlight  shone  was  looking  very  grave  when 
Alan  came  back,  after  having  finished  his  survey 
of  the  mill.  He  saw  the  expression,  but  took  no 
notice  of  it  further  than  to  say  ,  "  Come  down  to 
the  bridge,  Bernadette-  The  water  looks  beauti- 
ful in  the  moonlight." 

In  truth,  the  picture  from  the  bridge  was  one 
which  seemed  to  enter  Bernadette's  heart  and  re- 
main there  through  all  the  days  that  were  to  come. 
Long  as  she  had  known  the  familiar  scene,  there 
was  an  enchanted  beauty  in  it  that  night  which 
she  never  forgot.  From  where  they  stood  the 
mill,  with  its  high  roof  and  gables,  made  the 
foreground  of  the  picture ;  its  large  wheel  stand- 
ing black  and  silent  in  the  moonlight.  Above  it 
rose  the  wooded  hillside,  where  one  ray  of  sun- 
light would  have  lighted  a  hundred  vivid  tints ;  but 
the  lunar  splendor,  which  lent  such  witching  soft- 
ness, had  no  power  to  waken  the  crimson  and  gold 
and  bronze  of  its  autumnal  livery.  Deep  shadow 
and  silver  radiance  were  the  only  combinations  of 
the  scene  ;  yet  not  all  the  glories  of  Aladdin's 
garden  could  have  surpassed  their  effect.  The  fer- 
tile valley  stretched  away  like  a  carpet,  while  to 
right  and  left,  before  and  behind,  rose  the  great 
mountains,  with  their  farther  patriarchal  peaks 
lost  in  silvery  haze.  In  the  shade  of  the  bridge 
the  stream,  crystal-clear  by  daylight,  looked  dark 


A   LITTLE   MAID   OF   AROADY.  67 

and  deep ;  though  farther  down  the  magic  lustre 
caught  the  swift  current,  and  made  it  flash  with 
diamond  brightness,  as  it  swept  by  the  laurel- 
girt  banks. 

"  Ah !  "  said  Bernadette,  with  a  sigh ;  for  the 
little  maiden  was  quick  to  feel  loveliness  in  any 
form,  but  most  of  all  this  wild,  majestic  loveliness 
of  nature,  amid  which  she  had  been  reared.  "  O 
Alan,  how  beautiful !  It  breaks  my  heart  to — to 
think—  " 

"  Well,  to  think  what?  "  inquired  Alan,  aware 
of  the  quivering  lip  which  cut  the  sentence  short 
but  forbearing  comment. 

"  To  think  that  I  may  have  to  leave  it  all,"  said 
Bernadette,  with  voice  quivering  as  well  as  lip. 
u  Alan — "  a  pause. 

"  I'm  listening,"  returned  Alan,  pulling  his  hat 
over  his  brow  and  gazing  sternly  at  the  water. 

"  I  know  they'll  come  for  me,"  said  she,  de- 
spairingly. "  I  feel  sure  they  will.  O  Alan  !  " — 
a  great  burst  of  tears  here,  as  her  head  went  down 
on  the  rail  of  the  bridge — "  how  shall  I  ever  bear 
it  ?     How  shall  I  ever  go  ?  " 

Alan  set  his  teeth  hard,  and  as  he  pushed  back 
his  hat  again  it  was  a  very  determined  face  on 
which  the  moonlight  shone.  Some  time  elapsed 
before  he  uttered  a  word  ;  then,  with  a  singular 
gentleness  for  one  who  had  so  much  of  the  rough- 
ness of  boyhood  still  clinging  to  him,  he  said : 

"  Don't  greet  so,  Bernadette.     It'll  do  no  good, 


68  A   LITTLE   MAID    OF   ARCADY. 

and  only  make  your  head  ache.  You're  a  bit 
downhearted  now,  but  father  and  mother  won't  let 
3'ou  go  if  there's  a  chance  to  keep  }tou, — you  ought 
to  be  sure  of  that." 

"  I  am  sure  of  it ! '  sobbed  Bernadette.  "  But 
Mr.  Chesselton  talked  of  my  grandfather.  Could 
the}r  keep  me  if  he  came  ?  " 

"  Why  not  ?  "  Alan  demanded  sharply.  "  After 
leaving  }rou  all  these  years,  he  has  no  right  to  come 
for  you  now." 

But  Bernadette  sadly  shook  her  head.  She  felt 
instinctively  that  this  was  an  untenable  position  ; 
felt  it  as  Alan  did  in  the  midst  of  his  wrath  ;  felt 
it  as  the  two  downcast  people  in  the  house  did  in 
the  midst  of  their  sorrow. 

"  It  must  give  him  a  right,"  she  said.  "  How 
could  he  be  my  mother's  own  father  and  not  have 
have  a  right  to  me  ?  Mr.  Chesselton  said  it — it 
was  certain." 

"  Mr.  Chesselton  be  hanged  !  "  growled  Alan, 
in  a  tone  of  indignation. 

Then  there  was  silence  for  a  minute.  Softly  the 
water  flowed  under  their  feet ;  softly  rippled  past 
the  banks  where  they  had  played  as  children ; 
softly  sang  its  sweet  monologue  as  it  swept  along, 
bearing  their  childhood  forever  away  on  the  spark- 
ling current.  They  still  stood  together,  side  by  side, 
according  to  the  familiar  association  of  many  years; 
but  heavy  in  the  heart  of  each  was  the  foreboding 


A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARC  AD  Y.  69 

sense  that  already  this  association  was  a  thing  of 
the  past. 

"Bernadette,"  said  Alan,  breaking  the  silence 
at  last  very  abruptly,  "if  your  grandfather  comes 
for  you,  and  if  he  has  the  power  to  carry  you 
away,  what  do  you  mean  to  do?  Do  you  mean 
to  forget  us,  or  be  ashamed  of  us,  when  you  grow 
to  be  a  fine  lady  ?  " 

"  I'm  none  likely  to  be  a  fine  lady,"  replied 
Bernadette  ;  "  but  if  I  were  a  hundred  times  over, 
Alan,  you  know  I  could  sooner  die  than  forget 
you  all,  or — or  be  ashamed  of  you  !  I  wonder  you 
are  not  ashamed  to  say  such  things  to  rue  ! " 

The  boy  looked  long  and  steadily  at  the  face 
upturned  to  him  in  the  moonlight, — a  face  lovely 
enough  to  haunt  the  dreams  of  any  son  of  man, 
though  it  rose  above  a  plain,  dark  gown,  and  was 
hooded  by  a  plaid  shawl.  Young  and  ignorant  as 
he  was,  some  idea  of  the  probable  future  of  that 
face  may  have  risen  before  him. 

"  They'll  teach  you  the  lesson  soon  enough  !  " 
he  said ;  but,  bitterly  as  he  spoke,  it  was  more  to 
himself  than  to  her. 

"You  have  no  right  to  say  so!"  cried  Berna- 
dette. "I— I  didn't  think  you  could  talk  so, 
Alan.  Do  you  think  I  don't  know  what  father 
and  mother  have  done  for  me  ? '  she  went  on, 
passionately.  "  I'll  never  leave  them  if  I  can  help 
it !  If  I  can't  help  it,  I'll  come  back  as  soon  as 
I'm  grown." 


70  A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARC  AD  Y. 

"You're  a  leal  little  soul,"  said  Alan.  "  I  be- 
lieve you  would  if  you  could ,  but  the  will's  one 
thing  and  the  power's  another." 

"  Who  should  keep  me  ?  '  demanded  Berna- 
dette,  trembling  with  excitement. 

"Them  that  have  power  to  take  you  away  will 
have  power  to  keep  you,"  he  answered.  "And 
there'll  be  other  things — things  you  don't  know 
yet — that'll  maybe  change  you  so  you  won't  want 
to  come." 

"  Alan ! " 

"Bat  happen,"  he  went  on,  unheeding  the  in- 
dignant exclamation,  "  I  might  go  after  you  some 
day.  Do  you  think  you'd  like  to  come  back  with 
me  if  I  did  ?  " 

"  I  know  I  should,"  replied  Bernadette,  facing 
him  with  the  fearless  candor  of  a  child. 

"Maybe,  then,  I'll  try  you,"  he  said.  "You 
shall  never  say  you  didn't  have  a  chance  to  come, 
any  how — though  that's  poor  comfort,"  he  added 
gloomily,  "for  the  thought  that,  after  all  these 
years  when  we've  kept  you  and  loved  you,  you 
may  be  stolen  away  from  us  by  people  that  have 
done  naught  for  you.  Why,  it  was  only  to-day 
father  and  I  were  saying  what  we  would  get  for 
you  with  the  money  the  cattle  brought." 

"  0  Alan,  Alan !  " 

Tears  again — sobs  of  exceeding  bitterness  on 
the  still  night  air.  This  time  Alan  let  her 
"  greet '     without   remonstrance,    for   it   was   as 


A   LITTLE   MAID    OF   ARCADY.  71 

much  as  he  could  do  to  keep  down  the  heaving 
motion  m  his  own  throat ;  and  the  moonlit  scene 
swam  before  his  vision,  as  if  he  had  been  a  very 
child. 

"  God  knows  I  won't  stand  it,  Bernadette  !  "  he 
said  at  last,  desperately.  "  If  you  go,  I'll  go  too. 
I  can't  stay  here  and  miss  you  every  day." 

"You'll  break  my  heart !"  sobbed  Bernadette  ; 
and  indeed  it  seemed  as  if  that  poor  little  organ 
might  be  unable  to  endure  the  sharp  tension  to 
which  it  was  subjected.  "  O  Alan,  how  can  you 
talk  of  going  away  !  How  can  you  think  of  leav- 
ing our  dear  home,  where  we  have  been  so 
happy ! " 

"  It's  because  we  have  been  so  happy  that  I 
don't  see  how  I  can  stay,"  he  replied,  in  the  same 
desperate  tone. 

"  But  you  can't  leave  father  and  mother?"  said 
she,  lifting  up  a  woful,  tear-stained  face.  "Alan, 
you  coiddnH  be  so  selfish!  If  I  go  away" — a 
piteous  quiver  in  the  voice  here, — "how  could 
they  live  by  themselves?  " 

"  I'm  thinking  it's  like  enough  we  won't  any  of 
us  live  here  if  you  go  away,"  said  he,  looking  up 
at  the  house  which  had  sheltered  them  so  long. 
"  They  care  a  great  deal  more  for  you  than  they 
do  for  me." 

"  How  can  you  say  that,  Alan,  when  they  love 
you  so  dearly  ?  " 

"  Bless  you,  I  know  that ! "  responded  Alan,  a 


72  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

little  impatiently.  "But  they  love  you  the  best, 
— it  would  be  strange  if  they  didn't.  Poor  souls  ! 
I'm  sorry  for  them,"  said  the  boy,  with  something 
like  a  shrug  of  the  shoulders. 

"  When  I'm  grown  I'll  come  back,"  said  Berna- 
dette. 

"  Maybe  so,"  replied  he,  a  little  drearily. 
"  Maybe  so,  but  I'm  thinking — " 

Here  he  broke  off  suddenly;  standing  so  long 
silent,  looking  at  the  water  flowing  under  their 
feet,  that  Bernadette  at  last  asked  him  of  what  he 
was  thinking. 

"Nothing  much,"  he  answered,  with  a  strange 
sort  of  gravity.  "  Only,  as  I  was  looking  at  the 
water,  and  remembering  the  happy  times  we've 
had,  I  couldn't  help  thinking  that  they  '11  never 
come  back.  You  know  what  father's  alwa}Ts  say- 
ing to  us,  'the  mill  will  never  grind  again  with 
the  water  that  is  past.'  We  are  like  the  mill, 
Bernadette  :  we'll  never  grind  again  with  the 
time  that's  past." 

Bernadette  answered  nothing,  for  a  great  lump 
in  her  throat  forbade  speech.  The  familiar  saying 
seemed  just  then  as  a  voice  of  warning  prophecy. 
Was  it  indeed  true  ?  Was  the  past  never  to  live 
again  in  the  future  ?  Was  its  happiness  as  much 
past  recall  as  the  water  slipping  under  the  bridge  ? 
Was  she  hastening  on  to  other  scenes,  so  different 
from  these  of  her  childhood  that  the  gulf  between 
them  would  soon  widen  into  impassable  distance  ? 


A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARCADY.  73 

The  girl's  heart,  loyal  and  true  to  the  friends  of 
her  need,  shrank  as  if  a  cold  hand  had  suddenly 
grasped  it.  In  truth,  few  things  are  more  terrible 
to  those  who  have  not  yet  known  the  relentless 
power  of  Time  and  Change  than  this  sense  of 
utter  impotence, —  this  first  realization  of  the  re- 
sistless onward  sweep  of  that  strong  tide  of  cir- 
cumstances, which  will  change  life  and  all  its 
meaning,  how  much  or  how  little  none  can  tell. 

But  it  comes  to  us  all  sooner  or  later  with  a 
strange  shock,  even  as  it  came  to  Bernadette  now. 
Ever  afterward  the  girl  retained  a  vivid  picture 
of  herself  standing  on  the  moonlit  bridge,  amid 
the  loved,  familiar  scenes  of  her  youth ,  with  the 
stream  singing  its  soft  refrain  far  adown  the 
valley  in  the  stillness  of  the  night,  and  seeming  to 
chant  as  it  went  the  words  which  formed  the  bur- 
den of  her  thoughts : 

"  The  mill  will  never  grind  again  with  the 
water  that  is  past." 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Fate  was  kind  in  at  least  one  particular  to  the 
Camerons — the  blow  which  they  dreaded  was 
short  and  sharp.  There  was  none  of  the  weary 
sickness  of  long  suspense  or  long  endurance.  Be- 
fore they  had  time  to  realize  what  they  feared,  it 
came  upon  them  with  one  keen  stroke,  merciful  in 
its  swiftness. 

In  the  afternoon  of  the  daj^  following  that  on 
which  young  Chesselton  made  his  discovery  and 
took  his  departure  from  the  farm-house,  Mrs. 
Cameron  was  sitting  with  her  work  in  the  open 
door,  when  she  suddenly  rose  and  wrung  her 
hands  with  a  low  cry.  Poor  woman  !  she  knew  at 
once  that  the  worst  had  come  upon  her ;  for  there 
in  the  level,  golden  sunlight  was  a  carriage  slowly 
driving  up  the  hill,  and  her  husband  in  his  mill 
suit  trudging  along  with  bent  head  beside  it.  As 
she  gazed,  a  sharp  pang  seized  her  heart ;  a  sud- 
den throb  of  dizzy  sickness  made  the  familiar 
room  reel  round  her,  and  misted  the  whole  bright 
glory  of  the  outer  scene.  She  clutched  the  back 
of  the  chair  from  which  she  had  risen,  to  steady 
herself ;  while  the  loud  ticking  of  the  clock,  the 
swaying  of  boughs  before  an  open  window,  and 
the  grating  of  carriage  wheels  on  the  pebbly  hill, 
(74) 


A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   AKCADY.  75 

all  came  to  her  as  sounds  in  a  dream.  "  My  bon- 
nie  bairn  !  my  bonuie  bairn  !  "  she  cried  to  herself, 
as  the  carriage,  having  gained  the  crest  of  the  hill, 
rolled  swiftly  forward  and  stopped. 

While  a  servant  opened  the  door  and  began  to 
assist  a  gentleman,  who  moved  with  extreme  dif- 
ficulty, to  the  ground,  her  husband  came  forward 
to  where  she  stood,  perfectly  motionless,  within 
the  shadow  of  the  doorway. 

"  Janet  woman,"  said  he  quietly,  though  a  cer- 
tain twitching  at  the  corners  of  the  mouth  betray- 
ed his  agitation,  "  here  are  the  folks  to  see  about 
our  Bernadette.  Don't  be  afraid  of  them  "  (as 
she  shrank  back) ;  "  they  seem  gentle-spoken 
enough,  and  we've  naught  to  be  'shamed  of  our- 
selves." 

44  Bide  a  bit,"  said  Janet,  catching  her  breath. 
"  I'll  be  ready  in  a  minute,  Rob  ;  but  it's  like  to 
take  my  breath  away.  Oh,  the  bonnie  bairn !  the 
bonuie  bairn!"  Then,  after  a  pause:  "What 
can  I  say  to  them  ?  " 

"  Ask  them  to  come  in,"  answered  he,  bluntly. 
"  Let  them  be  on  what  errand  they  will,  they  are 
strangers  at  our  door." 

So  adjured,  Mrs.  Cameron  advanced.  The  gen- 
tleman had  by  this  time  reached  the  ground,  and 
stood,  leaning  partly  on  his  stick,  partly  on  the 
arm  of  his  servant,  gazing  intently  at  the  house ; 
while  a  delicate,  graceful  lady,  in  a  pale-gray 
travelling  dress,  descended  from  the  carriage,  then 


76  A   LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARC  AD  Y. 

turned  and  held  out  her  hand  to  a  girl  with  a 
waving  mane  of  bright  golden  hair,  who  sprang 
lightly  past  it.  "  Thanks,  mamma  ;  I  don't  need 
any  help,"  said  she ;  and  at  that  moment  Mrs. 
Cameron  came  forward.  What  she  would  or 
could  have  said,  the  good  woman  scarcely  knew; 
but  fortunately  the  matter  was  set  at  rest  for  her. 
With  a  wistful  look  in  his  eyes,  the  gentleman, 
who  seemed  to  be  waiting  her  advance,  took  a  step 
forward  and  held  out  his  hand. 

"  Have  I  the  pleasure  of  seeing  Mrs.  Cameron?  " 
asked  he,  with  a  tone  in  his  voice  which  accorded 
well  with  the  look  in  his  eyes. 

"  That's  my  name,  sir,"  answered  Mrs.  Cameron 
stiffly,  glancing  from  his  face  to  that  of  the  lady 
and  the  girl,  who  looked  like  a  May  rose,  behind 
him.  It  was  little  wonder  that  she  felt  a  bitter 
resentment  against  these  high  born  "gentlefolks," 
who  had  come  to  rob  her  of  her  Bernadette — her 
darling. 

"I  am  very  glad,  very  grateful  to  meet  you, 
madam,"  said  the  old  gentleman,  with  the  finest 
courtes}^  in  his  uncovered  head  and  trembling 
tone.  "  What  I  owe  to  you  there  is  no  hope  that 
I  can  ever  repay.  There  are  no  possible  words  in 
which  I  can  express  my  gratitude  to  you,  you  and 
your  good  husband,  for  your  great  kindness  to  my 
— m}^  poor — " 

"You  owe  us  no  thanks  at  all,  sir,"  said  Mrs. 
Cameron,  proudly.     "  What  we've  done  has  been 


A   LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY.  77 

done  for  love  of  Bernadette,  and  not  for  any 
friends  she  might  have, — friends  "  (no  effort  could 
restrain  the  bitter  accent  here)  "  who  have  left 
her  all  these  years  to  the  care  of  strangers." 

"  Because  we  had  no  idea  where  she  was,"  said 
he  gently,  looking  with  compassionate  eyes  at  the 
pale,  troubled  face  before  him.  "  We  have  all  the 
more  need  to  be  grateful  to  God  that  in  her  deso- 
lation He  raised  up  such  a  friend  to  her  as  you 
have  been." 

"  It's  like  that  such  as  she  would  have  found 
friends  anywhere,"  observed  Mrs.  Cameron,  coldly. 
"Will  you  come  in,  sir,  and  rest  a  while  ?  It's 
best  for  us  not  to  be  too  certain:  there  may  be 
some  mistake,  after  all — " 

"  It's  impossible  that  there  can  be  any  mistake," 
said  the  old  gentleman,  trembling  a  little.  "  My 
grandson — but  I  will  come  to  that  presently.  This 
is  my  daughter,  Mrs.  Chesselton ;  and  this  is  her 
daughter,  the  sister  of  the  young  gentleman 
whom  you  know." 

"  And  who  made  all  this  mischief !  "  was  Mrs. 
Cameron's  inward  comment,  as  she  looked  from 
the  pale,  sweet  face  of  the  lady  to  the  blooming 
countenance  of  the  girl  beside  her.  She  courtesied 
slightly  in  acknowledgement  of  the  introduction, 
but  said  nothing.  Words  of  welcome  to  such 
guests  would  have  been  on  her  lips  a  falsehood 
and  a  mockery. 

"  The  ladies  will  come  in,  perhaps  ?  '    she  said, 


78  A   LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

forcing  the  words'  as  well  as  she  could  from  her 
dry  throat. 

"  After  a  while  we  shall  be  glad  to  do  so,"  an- 
swered Mrs.  Chesselton,  in  a  voice  as  sweet  as  her 
face  ;  "  but  just  now " 

She  turned  to  the  gentleman  and  finished  the 
rest  of  her  sentence  in  a  low  tone.  He  seemed 
to  assent  eagerly  to  what  she  said ;  and,  turning 
back  to  Mrs.  Cameron,  she  went  on : 

"  My  father  would  like,  if  you  please,  to  see  the 
— the  grave  at  once." 

"  It  is  beyond  the  garden,"  said  Mrs.  Cameron, 
turning  round  mechanically.  She  led  the  wa}r, 
and  they  followed.  Having  reached  the  gate,  she 
paused  and  pointed.  "  You  can't  miss  it,"  she 
said.     "  I  will  wait  for  you  here." 

"  Pray  don't,"  said  the  lady,  with  a  look  that 
showed  how  highly  she  appreciated  this  instinctive 
delicacy.  "  We  can  find  our  wa}^  back  alone  ;  and 
my  father  may  remain  some  time." 

"  In  that  case  I  had  better  go  to  the  house  per- 
haps, and  get  the  trunk  and  the  Bible  and  picture 
ready,  so  that  he  can  satisfy  himself." 

"  Have  you  those  things  ?  Yes — yes,  get  them 
by  all  means.     And  the  child,  where  is  she  ?  " 

"  I  made  her  go  after  dinner  into  the  woods 
with  Alan.  She  has  nearly  fretted  herself  sick, 
If — if  it  turns  out  true,  I  can  send  for  her." 

"Better  send  for  her  anyway,"  said  the  lady* 
gently. 


A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY.  79 

Then  she  followed  her  father  and  daughter 
down  the  garden  path,  daintily  picking  her  way, 
and  lifting  now  and  then  her  skirt.  Mrs.  Cam- 
eron stood  watching  her  with  sad,  bitter,  wistful 
eyes.  Already  she  seemed  to  see  the  gulf 
yawning  at  her  feet — the  gulf  that  would  sep- 
arate her  hopelessly,  irrevocably  from  Berna- 
dette.  These  were  the  people,  this  was  the 
world,  to  which  the  girl  belonged  by  birth.  How 
different  from  the  world  in  which  she  had  lived 
like  a  sunbeam  for  ten  long,  happy  }rears ! 

"  God  help  me  !  God  forgive  me  !  "  sobbed  the 
poor  woman  to  herself  as  she  took  her  way  back 
to  the  house.  "  I've  done  my  best  by  the  bonnie 
bairn  ;  but,  do  what  I  would,  I  could  never  make 
her  like  this." 

Out  of  the  dark  nook  where  it  had  lain  so  long, 
the  dead  lady's  trunk  was  brought, — the  clothes 
within  yellow  with  age,  but  untouched,  as  they 
had  been  on  the  day  of  the  fatal  accident.  Mrs. 
Cameron  had  not  more  than  seen  her  husband 
bring  it  safelj7  down-stairs,  and,  after  fitting  a 
rusty  key  in  the  lock,  raise  the  lid,  when  to  her 
surprise  she  saw  the  trio  of  strangers  filing  slowly 
out  of  the  garden. 

"They  were  too  impatient  to  stay  long,"  said 
her  husband,  with  a  sigh.  u  I'm  none  likelv  to 
wonder  at  that." 

In  truth,  Mrs.  Chesselton  acknowledged  that 
this  had  been  the  case.      Hearing  of  the  trunk, 


80  A   LITTLE  MAID   OF  AECADY. 

her  father  was  anxious  to  satisfy  himself  concern- 
ing it,  and  so  made  haste  back  to  the  house. 

"  We  feel  little  doubt  that  it  was  my  dear  sis- 
ter," said  the  lady,  wiping  away  her  fast-flowing 
tears;  " but  still  we  wish  to  be  certain.  My  son 
said  that  you  had  something  on  which  her  maiden 
name  was  written." 

"  It  was  this,"  said  Mrs.  Cameron,  taking  out 
the  Bible. 

Little  and  old  and  worn  as  it  was,  Mrs.  Chessel- 
ton  caught  it  eagerly,  and  uttered  a  low,  startled 
cry  of  astonished  recognition. 

" Papa,  papa!'  she  exclaimed,  turning  to  her 
father  in  uncontrollable  excitement,  "  it  is  Mar- 
ian's Bible.  I  should  know  it  among  a  thousand. 
I  have  one  just  like  it  at  home.  Mamma  gave 
them  to  us  when  we  were  girls  together,  and  wrote 
our  names  in  them.     See  here  !  " 

As  well  as  her  trembling  fingers  would  allow, 
she  opened  the  book  and  turned  to  the  fly-leaf, 
where  "  Marian  Ridgeley  '  was  traced  in  faded 
ink. 

"  It  is  mamma's  hand  !  "  she  cried.  "  How  well 
I  remember  the  day  she  wrote  it !  And  here  is 
her  miniature  ! — her  own  miniature  !  O  papa  !  it 
ivas  my  sister — my  dear  sister — who  died  that  aw- 
ful death  !  And  we  never  knew,  we  never  dreamed 
of  it  all  these  long  years.  O  Marian,  Marian  !  O 
m}r  sister,  my  sister  !  " 

With  this  exceeding  bitter  cry  she  sank  on  her 


A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ABCADT.  81 

knees  beside  the  trunk,  and,  leaning  her  face  on 
the  lid,  sobbed  as  if  the  corpse  of  her  sister  had 
lain  before  her. 

"Mamma  !  mamma  !  "  cried  her  daughter,  half 
frightened  by  this  strange  vehemence  of  emotion 
in  one  usually  so  full  of  placid  quietude.  Even 
Mr.  Ridgeley,  though  tears  were  flowing  down  his 
own  cheeks,  strove  to  quiet  her. 

"  Gently,  gently,  my  dear  Alice,"  he  said.  "God 
knows  I  feel  this  terrible  shock,  which  seems  to 
have  come  upon  us  in  all  its  freshness,  as  keenly 
as  you  can  do.  But  I  feel  also  His  great  mercy. 
The  child!— think  of  the  child!  What  would 
have  become  of  her  if  she  had  not  found  such  a 
home  as  this  ?  " 

"  I  do  indeed  think  of  it,"  said  the  lady,  lifting 
her  face.  "  How  can  we  ever  show  our  gratitude 
to  these  good  people  !  How  thank  them  for  their 
kindness  to — to  both  of  them  !  "  she  went  on, 
looking  up  at  Mrs.  Cameron  with  streaming  eyes. 

"  You  can  show  it  by  leaving  us  our  darling," 
said  the  latter,  sinking  into  a  chair,  and,  now  that 
the  last  delusive  hope  was  rent  away,  bursting  into 
a  passion  of  tears.  "  You  can  leave  us  the  child 
for  whom  you  have  no  need,  but  who  is  every  thing 
to  us." 

Forgetting  for  the  moment  her  own  grief,  the 
lady  rose  and  went  forward  to  try  to  comfort  the 
woman,  whose  grief  was  sorer,  newer,  deeper  than 
her  own. 
6 


82  A   LITTLE  MAID   OF   AECADY. 

"  Think  how  much  you  ask  of  us,"  she  said, 
gently.  "  Bernaclette  is  the  daughter  of  my  dear 
and  only  sister,  and  can  you  wonder  that  we  are 
unable  to  comply  with  your  request  and  leave  her 
with  you  ?  Think  also  that  the  change  will  only 
give  her  two  homes  instead  of  one.  We  should 
be  monsters  of  ungrateful  selfishness  if  we  desired 
to  take  her  from  you  altogether,  or  if  we  did  not 
desire  that  she  should  still  love  and  honor  you  as 
her  best  earthly  friend.  She  will  be  with  you  of- 
ten, for  we  always  spend  our  summers  in  these 
mountains  ;  and " 

"  You  are  very  good  to  talk  so,"  said  Mrs.  Cam- 
eron, putting  away  the  soft,  white  hand  that  came 
caressingly  near  her  own,  and  rising  drenrity. 
"But  I'm  none  such  a  fool  as  not  to  know  that 
like  seeks  like,  and  that  when  once  the  bonnie 
bairn  has  lived  your  life  she'll  ne'er  come  back  to 
us  and  be  content  to  live  ours.  No  "  (with  a  burst 
of  passionate  feeling) :  "  if  you  take  her  away 
once,  you  take  her  away  for  aye.  You'll  bring  her 
back  a  young  lady,  perhaps ;  but  she'll  never, 
never  be  our  Bernadette  again!  " 

"  If  her  heart  is  what  it  should  be — "  Mrs.  Ches- 
selton  began. 

"  Her  heart's  the  sweetest,  the  truest,  and  the 
best  that  ever  was,"  interrupted  Mrs.  Cameron. 
"  Don't  think  I'm  saving  that  shell  ever  turn  from 
us  -with  her  own  will,  that  is.  But  the  life  will 
change  her, — the  life  will  turn  her  from  us." 


A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   AECADY.  83 

u  There  isn't  anything  or  anybody  shall  ever 
turn  me  from  you  !  "  cried  Bernadette,  rushing 
impetuously  into  the  room  and  throwing  her  arms 
around  the  speaker;  while  Alan  paused  at  the 
door,  one  foot  on  the  step  which  led  down  to  the 
yard,  his  broad  straw-hat  in  his  hand,  and  his 
bronzed,  flushed  face  looking  loweringly  in.  .No- 
body noticed  him,  for  they  were  all  intent  on 
Bernadette  ;  but  he  noticed  them,  and  took  a  care- 
ful and  by  no  means  flattering  survey  of  each  one 
of  them. 

"  There  isn't  anybody  shall  take  me  away !  "  re- 
peated Bernadette,  facing  the  assembled  company, 
with  cheeks  like  pomegranates  and  eyes  like  stars. 
"  I  don't  care  who  they  are  ;  they  have  never  done 
for  me  what  you  have,  or  been  to  me  what  you 
have  !  I  am  old  enough  to  decide  for  mj-self,"  the 
little  maiden  went  on,  astonishing  Mrs.  Cameron 
as  much  as  her  new-found  relatives  ;  "  and  I  am 
not  going  to  leave  those  who  have  cared  for  me  all 
my  life, — no  "  (this  in  response  to  a  look  from  Mr. 
Ridgeley),  "I  never  will." 

"Sir,"  said  Mrs.  Cameron,  appealing  to  that 
gentleman,  "  I  beg  you  to  believe  that  I  have  not 
put  such  ideas  as  these  into  the  child's  head.  If 
3^0 ur  claim  is  just,  I  know  what  }-ou  are  to  her, 
and  I  know  "  (very  bitterly)  "  what  I  am." 

"It's  no  wonder  that  she  feels  in  this  way, 
madam,"  said  the  old  gentleman  as  courteously  as 
ever.     "  It  is  only  a  proof  of  how  great  your  love 


84  A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   AKCADY. 

and  kindness  to  her  have  been.  Bernadette,  my 
child,"  he  went  on,  with  his  tone  and  manner 
changing  to  gentleness,  "  will  you  not  come  and 
speak  to  me — to  your  grandfather?" 

"  Are  you  my  grandfather?  "  asked  Bernadette, 
looking  at  him  with  dark,  passionate  eyes,  but 
moving  never  a  step. 

"  Your  mother  was  my  daughter,"  answered  he, 
a  little  wistfully. 

"  Are  you  sure  of  that  ?  " 

He  took  up  the  Bible,  and,  pointing  to  the  fly- 
leaf, remarked  :     "  This  proves  it." 

"  Then,"  said  the  girl,  drawing  herself  up  like  a 
princess,  while  the  eloquent  blood  flushed  yet 
deeper  in  her  cheeks,  "  I  am  glad  to  be  able  to  tell 
you  that  since  you  did  not  care  enough  about  my 
mother  to  find  out  all  these  years  whether  she  was 
alive  or  dead,  or  enough  about  me  to  take  me 
when  I  was  a  helpless  child,  I  will  never  go  with 
you  now — no,  not  if  I  died  for  it !  I  would  rather 
live  forever  on  the  charity  of  those  who  have  been 
friends  and  parents  to  me." 

"  Bernadette  !"  said  Mrs.  Cameron,  in  a  sort  of 
amazed  expostulation.  The  good  woman  could 
scarcely  realize  that  this  was  indeed  Bernadette 
who  spoke.  She  did  not  see  the  glance  exchanged 
with  Alan^  or  guess  what  seeds  of  rebellion  had 
been  sown  out  on  the  hill-side  under  the  chestnut- 
trees.  She  could  not  dream  how  this  eager,  pas- 
sionate, trembling  child  had  spent  the  long  hours 


A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARCADY.  85 

of  the  sleepless  night  in  going  over  her  own  and 
her  mother's  wrongs,  until  she  had  wrought  her- 
self to  this  pitch  of  fiery  defiance. 

"  My  God,  how  like  she  is  to  Marian  as  I  saw 
her  last ! "  said  Mrs.  Chesselton  to  her  father. 

He,  for  his  part,  covered  his  eyes  with  his  hand 
for  a  moment,  as  if  indeed  the  sight  of  Berna- 
dette's  passionate  excitement  wakened  some  asso- 
ciation too  painful  to  be  regarded  ;  then,  looking 
up  without  any  shade  of  resentment,  he  held  out 
his  hand  to  her. 

"  Child,"  he  said,  slowly  and  sadly,  "  come  here, 
and  let  me  tell  you  why  it  was  that  I  knew  noth- 
ing of  your  mother's  fate  until  yesterday." 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

There  was  complete  silence  in  the  room  for  a 
few  moments  after  Mr.  Ridgeley  had  made  his  ap- 
peal. Bernadette — uncompromising  Bernadette — 
shook  her  head,  and  still  clung  to  Mrs.  Cameron. 

"  You  can  tell  me  if  you  choose,"  she  said  ;  "  but 
I'll  stay  where  I  am.  And  I'll  never  go  with  you 
— never !  ' 

"  Tell  her  the  story,  papa,"  said  Mrs.  Chessel- 
ton,  sadly.  "  That  may  convince  her  of  her  error 
sooner  than  anything  else." 

"  Perhaps  it  may,"  said  Mr.  Ridgeley,  with  the 
same  wistful  expression  in  his  eyes  and  voice 
which  had  been  so  evident  before.  *'  My  little 
girl,"  he  went  on,  bending  forward  slightly,  while 
the  hands  which  were  clasped  on  the  top  of  his 
stick  trembled  visibly,  "you  are  very  passionate 
and  indignant  now,  because  you  think  your 
mother  and  yourself  have  been  wronged  by  our 
neglect.  But  I  am  sure  you  have  too  much  good 
sense  to  continue  to  resent  this  when  I  prove  to 
you  that  it  was  by  no  fault  of  ours  that  the  neg- 
lect occurred.  Do  you  remember  your  mother  at 
all,  my  dear  ?  " 

"  Only  a  little,"  answered  Bernadette  ;  soften- 
ing somewhat  with  the  realization  that  these  stran- 
(86) 


A   LITTLE   MAID   OF    ARC  AD  Y.  87 

gers  knew  far  more  of  her  mother  than  she  did, 
and  were  indeed  of  that  shadowy  mother's  nearest 
kith  and  kin. 

"  You  are  very  like  her,  my  dear — very  like 
her,"  said  he  gravely.  "  She  was  not  much  older 
than  you  are  when  I  saw  her  last,  with  just  such 
a  face  and  just  such  a  fiery  spirit.  She  had  al- 
ways been  very  sweet  and  docile — her  sister  here, 
your  aunt,  can  tell  you  that, — but  she  had  this 
spirit  all  the  same  ;  and  one  day  it  broke  out  just 
as  yours  has  done.  She  fell  in  love,  when  she  was 
a  mere  school-girl,  with  a  young  Frenchman, 
whose  political  ideas  had  made  him  an  exile  from 
his  country,  and  whom  no  father  could  possibly 
have  sanctioned  as  his  daughter's  choice.  I  think 
I  may  safely  say  that  I  have  no  severity  with 
which  to  reproach  myself " — the  shadow,  as  it 
were,  from  that  bygone  trouble  deepening  on  his 
face, — "  but  }^our  mother  was  very  wilful,  my 
child.  She  refused  to  surrender  her  lover;  and 
while  I,  anxious  only  to  do  what  was  best  for 
her,  was  making  up  my  mind  to  consent  to  a 
conditional  engagement  of  some  years,  which 
would  in  a  measure  yield  to  her  infatuation,  yet 
give  her  sufficient  time  to  recognize  its  folly,  I 
was  greeted  by  the  terrible  news  that — that  she 
had  eloped. 

"  After  that  we  had  no  news  of  her  for  a  long 
time,  and  no  possible  means  of  communicating 
with  her.     At  last  " — a  pause  and  a  slight  motion 


88  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARC  AD  V\ 

in  the  throat,  as  of  some  impediment  swallowed, 
here, — "  at  last  we  heard  from  her.  She  wrote 
from  a  small  town  in  Germany,  asking  pecuniary 
assistance.  I  knew  that  one  so  proud  as  my 
poor  Marian  must  have  suffered  very  much  be- 
fore she  would  have  done  that ;  and  it  wrung 
my  heart  at  the  time — it  wrings  it  even  yet — to 
remember  the  sad,  hopeless  tone  of  her  appeal. 
I  settled  an  income  on  her  at  once,  making  it 
payable  quarterly  ;  for  otherwise  I  knew  that  it 
would  do  her  little  good.  After  that  we  heard 
from  her  regularly,  but  she  told  us  very  little  of 
herself.  I  think  there  was  little  that  she  cared  to 
tell.  Her  husband  led  a  roving  existence,  and 
was  always  embroiled  in  some  visionary  political 
conspiracy  or  scheme,  which  threatened  his  lib- 
erty, if  not  his  life.  Her  only  sunlight  and  com- 
fort seemed  to  be  in  '  little  Bernadette ' ;  as  you 
will  see  when  you  read  her  letters,  which  are 
treasured  carefully  in  her  old  home,  soon  to  be 
your  home,  my  dear." 

"  No,  no  !  "  cried  Bernadette  ;  but  the  fire  had 
died  out  of  her  eves,  and  she  buried  her  face  on 
Mrs.  Cameron's  shoulder,  as  tears  began  to  flow 
freely  and  fast. 

"  After  the  Republic  was  declared  they  went  to 
Paris,"  continued  Mr.  Ridgeley.  "  There  your 
father  died  very  suddenly.  I  chanced  to  be  absent 
from  home,  and  it  was  sometime  before  vourmoth- 
er's    letter    announcing    the  event   reached   me. 


A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   AECADY.  S9 

When  it  did,  I  started  at  once  to  France  to  bring 
her  home.  Alice  here  went  with  me — your  grand- 
mother, my  dear,  had  been  dead  some  years  then, 
— and  we  were  very  happy  in  thinking  that  Marian 

would  soon  be  with  us  once  more,  never  to  leave 
us  again.  We  were  happy  too  soon,"  said  the  old 
man,  solemnly.  "  God  did  not  give  her  back  to 
us.  We  went  straight  to  her  address  in  Paris ; 
but,  to  our  consternation,  learned  that  she  had  left 
there  some  weeks  before  our  arrival.  After  mak- 
ing many  vain  inquiries,  I  enlisted  the  police  in 
the  search.  By  their  aid  we  succeeded  in  tracing 
her  to  Havre;  but  there  the  clue  was  hopelessly 
lost.  We  could  only  imagine  that,  having  failed 
to  receive  any  answer  to  her  letters,  she  had  sailed 
for  America.  We  at  once  came  back,  but  of 
course  I  need  not  say  we  found  no  trace  of  her.  I 
could  not  possibly  tell  you,  my  dear  child,  how 
long  we  hoped  against  hope  for  her  recovery,  or 
what  strenuous  efforts  we  made  to  obtain  the  least 
certainty  with  regard  to  her  fate.  All  was  vain  ; 
and  the  mystery  which  engulfed  her  fate  has 
proved  the  greatest  grief  of  our  lives,  until  " — 
the  voice  trembled  not  a  little  here — "  God  saw  fit 
to  make  use  of  the  merest  accident  by  means  of 
which  to  lift  the  curtain." 

"We  made  a  great  many  efforts  to  find  Berna- 
dette's  friends,"  said  Mrs.  Cameron.  u  The  Rail- 
road Company  advertised,  and  so  did  we." 

"I   learn   from   the  date  on  the  tombstone  that 


90  A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

we  were  on  our  way  to  France — probably  on  the 
ocean — at  the  time  the  accident  occurred,"  said 
Mr.  Ridgeley,  sorrowfully  ;  "  and  we  did  not  return 
until  late  in  the  autumn.  I  never  even  heard  of 
it  until  years  after,  when,  as  I  was  traveling  over 
the  road,  some  one  pointed  out  the  place  to  me. 
My  God  !  how  little  I  thought " 

Words  failed  him  utterly,  and  he  bent  his  face 
down  on  the  hands  which  were  still  clasped  above 
the  chased  head  of  his  cane.  For  a  minute  there 
was  entire  silence  in  the  room.  The  mellow  sun- 
shine streamed  through  a  western  window,  giving 
a  halo  of  marvelous  brightness  to  Fay  Chessel- 
ton's  golden  hair,  as  she  stood  like  a  graceful 
statue  by  her  mother's  side,  and  glanced  athwart 
the  soft,  white  curls  that  covered  the  bowed  head 
of  the  old  man. 

In  the  open  doorway,  with  the  glorious  pano- 
rama of  mountains  blazing  with  color  and  draped 
with  autumnal  haze  behind  him,  Alan  stood,  lis- 
tening attentively  to  all  that  was  passing.  Mrs. 
Chesselton  kept  her  sad,  gentle  regard  fixed  on 
Bernadette,  who  still  clung  to  Mrs.  Cameron.  It 
was  the  latter  who  first  broke  the  silence  by  ask- 
ing. 

"  Where  do  you  suppose  the  lady  was  going, 

that  she  should  have  been  travelling  across  our 
mountains  ?  " 

"  When  Marian  and  I  were  girls,"  answered 
Mrs.  Chesselton,  in  her  sweet  voice,  "papa  had  a 


A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARCADY.  91 

country  house  in  these  mountains,  where  we 
always  spent  our  summers.  We  gave  it  up  as 
soon  as  she  left  us ;  but  no  one  thought  of  men- 
tioning the  fact  in  the  few  letters  we  exchanged 
with  her.  The  accident  occurred  in  August.  No 
doubt  she  was  on  her  way  to  the  old  place,  think- 
ing she  was  most  likely  to  find  us  there  at  that 
season.  Bernadette,  my  darling,"  she  went  on, 
advancing  to  the  girl's  side,  "  are  yon  not  ready 
yet  to  meet  us  as  your  nearest  kindred  should  be 
met?  Do  you  not  yet  believe  that  we  would 
have  welcomed  you  as  gladly  ten  years  ago  as  we 
do  to-day?  Have  you  not  yet  realized  what  we 
are  to  you,  and  what  we  desire  to  be?' 

" I_oh,  yes  !— I  knowr  it— I  feel  it !  "  said  Ber- 
nadette, bursting  into  a  passion  of  tears.  "I  see 
it  was  no  fault  of  yours !  I— I  beg  your  pardon 
for  what  I  said.  But  if  you  had  only  not  found 
me !  If  you  had  only  let  me  alone  !  If  you 
would  only  let  me  stay  ! ' 

Mrs.  Chesselton  looked  hopelessly  at  her  father, 
as  if  to  say,  "What  can  be  done  with  her  ? ' 

Mr.  Ridgeley  answered  the  look  by  himself 
rising  and  moving  forward,  though  with  extreme 
difficulty.  "You  see,  if  the  mountain  will  not 
come  to  Mahomet,  Mahomet  must  go  to  the 
mountain,"  said  he,  trying  to  speak  lightly  as  he 
took  the  weeping  girl  in  his  arms.  "  Gently,  my 
poor  little  one !  Remember  that  you  will  always 
be  to  your  kind  protectors  just  what  you  are  now; 


92  A  LITTLE  MAID   OF  ABCADY. 

but  remember,  too,  that  we  have  a  claim  on  you. 
Surely  you  must  acknowledge  this  claim,  Berna- 
dette  ?  " 

"  Ye — es  !  "  sobbed  Bernadette,  doubtfully. 
"  But  I — I — oh,  I  can't  go  !  O  Alan,  come  and 
tell  them  that  I  can  not  go !  " 

At  this  adjuration  Mr.  Ridgeley  and  Mrs. 
Chesselton  turned  toward  the  door,  toward  which 
Bernadette's  imploring  glance  had  been  directed. 
The  bronzed  face  framed  there  faced  them  with  a 
very  steady  defiance  in  it.  Alan  Cameron,  young 
though  he  was,  was  not  likely  to  quail  before  liv- 
ing man  or  woman.  Indeed  his  inclination  lay  in 
rather  the  other  direction,  and  at  that  moment  he 
would  have  asked  nothing  better  than  to  throw 
down  the  gauntlet  to  each  and  every  one  of  these 
"  fine  gentlefolks."  He  had  sense  enough  to  know 
that  this  would  not  mend  matters,  however ;  so 
he  contented  himself  with  simply  answering  Ber- 
nadette's  appeal. 

"  It's  not  for  me  to  say  anything,  Bernadette. 
You  must  speak  for  yourself,  and  choose  between 
us  and  them.  I'm  thinking  you  are  not  like  to 
have  both." 

With  these  words — all  he  could  trust  himself 
to  utter — he  turned  hastily  and  strode  away  down 
the  hillside  path  to  the  mill. 

Mr.  Ridgeley  and  his  daughter  exchanged  a 
glance  —  the  glance  of  worldly-wise  people, — 
which  it  was  fortunate  for  Bernadette  she  did  not 


A   LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARC  AD  Y.  93 

understand.  Then  the  former  asked,  more  coldly 
than  he  had  as  yet  spoken,  "  Who  is  that  young 
man  ?  " 

"  It  is  Alan,  my  brother,"  answered  Bernadette, 
quickly. 

"  It  is  my  son,  sir,"  said  Mrs.  Cameron,  proudly. 

"  Ah  ! '  said  Mr.  Ridgeley,  in  a  tone  which  had 
a  good  deal  of  meaning  in  it.  Then  he  softly 
smoothed  back  the  hair  from  Bernadette's  face, 
and,  looking  at  its  radiant  loveliness,  it  would 
have  been  strange  if  he  had  not  congratulated 
himself  that  they  had  not  been  a  year  or  two  later 
in  finding  her.  "  Who  knows  what  mischief 
might  have  been  done?  "he  thought;  "but  now 
all  will  soon  be  right." 

"We  can  never  be  sufficiently  grateful  to  the 
kind  friends  who  have  sheltered  you,  my  dear 
child,"  he  said  aloud ;  "  and  I  trust  that  they  will 
let  us  prove  our  gratitude.  But  you  belong  to 
your  natural  guardians,  and  you  can  not  expect 
that  we  will  relinquish  our  new-found  prize." 


CHAPTER  IX. 

And  so,  in  a  space  of  time  so  brief  that  it 
seemed  impossible  to  comprehend  the  great  change 
it  had  wrought,  the  mystery  of  Bernadette's  origin 
was  solved,  and  her  whole  life  altered. 

"  We  will  not  take  you  with  us  now,"  her 
grandfather  said,  after  everything  had  been  ex- 
plained, and  there  was  no  hint  of  further  resist- 
ance from  the  weeping  girl.  "  But  we  expect  to 
leave  the  mountains  in  a  few  days,  to  return  to 
our  home  in  New  Orleans ;  and  I  wish  you  to  be 
ready  to  accompany  us  then." 

He  looked  at  Mrs.  Cameron  as  he  spoke,  and  it 
was  that  woman  who  answered  : 

"  The  child  will  be  ready,  sir.  There's  no  rea- 
son why  she  shouldn't  be.  I  know  now,"  with  a 
heavy  sigh,  "  we  can't  keep  her  with  us  longer." 

"  She  shall  come  to  see  )rou  next  year,"  said  the 
old  gentleman,  kindly.  "  I  should  never  wish  her 
to  forget  all  that  she  owes  to  you.  Nor  can  /ever 
forget  it,  I  assure  you.  The  debt  we  owe  for  your 
care  and  kindness  can  not  be  paid,  except  in  heart- 
felt gratitude  ;  but  you  must  at  least  suffer  me  to 
return  the  expense  of  her  maintenance,  which  you 
have  borne  for  ten  years.  That"  he  looked  at  the 
(94) 


a 


A   LTTTLE   MAID    OF   ARCADY.  95 

head  of  the  family  as  he  spoke,  "  you  will  agree 
with  me  is  only  just." 

Mayhap  it  is,"  said  the  Highlander,  quietly ; 
or  it  might  be,  only  you  see  we  took  the  little 
lassie  for  our  own  ;  we've  never  counted  what  she 
cost  us,  and  we  can't  take  money  now  for  what 
we've  done  for  her." 

"I  do  not  wish  to  pain  or  offend  you,"  said 
Mr.  Ridgeley  ;  "  but  when  you  think  of  it  calmly, 
I  am  sure  you  will  feel  that  it  would  be  as  strange 
as  inexcusable  if  I,  who  am  a  rich  man,  should 
not  return  what  you  have  so  generously  and  un- 
grudgingly bestowed  upon  my  grandchild  for  so 
long  a  space  of  time." 

"We'll  say  naught  more  about  it,"  replied  the 
other,  rising  to  his  feet.  "  If  we  could  keep  the 
lassie,  be  sure  we  would;  but  since  we  canna,  we 
must  e'en  let  her  go  with  you.  That  you're  a 
rich  man  is  a  good  thing  for  her,  but  it's  no  con- 
cern of  ours.  Take  her  if  you  must ;  but  when 
you're  taking  our  hearts  wi'  her,  dinna  talk  of  pay- 
ments, unless  ye  wish  to  insult  us." 

"  There  is  nothing  I  would  not  sooner  do,"  said 
Mr.  Ridgeley,  with  deep  feeling ;  for  he  was  not 
likely  to  mistake  the  sternness  of  the  last  words. 
He  saw  indeed  that  the  man's  heart  was  full  to 
overflowing,  and  that  no  more  could  be  said  on 
the  subject  now.  He  reflected  that  later  the  peo- 
ple would  hear  reason ;  or,  if  they  continued  ob- 
stinate in  refusing  money,  that  he  could  find  some 


96  A   LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARC  AD  Y. 

other  means  of  discharging  a  debt,  which  he  had 
no  idea  of  allowing  to  remain  undischarged. 

With  a  few  more  kind  words,  the  party,  there- 
fore, took  their  departure ;  and  there  was  soon 
nothing  to  recall  the  scene  that  had  taken  place, 
except  the  track  of  the  carriage  wheels  before  the 
door,  and  the  open  trunk  still  standing  in  the 
centre  of  the  floor.  But  for. the  latter,  Bernadette 
might  have  thought  all  that  had  passed  a  dream, 
as  she  saw  the  mellow  sunshine  sleeping  on  the 
threshold,  the  great  mountains  beyond  draped  in 
haze,  the  maples  sending  down  their  golden 
leaves  in  fluttering  showers,  the  whole  familiar 
environment  of  her  life  unchanged  by  the  earth- 
quake that  had  upheaved  her  existence.  She 
looked  around  with  eyes  almost  blind  from  the 
tears  that  filled  them.  Alas,  for  the  peaceful 
home,  with  its  simple  pleasures  !  Its  doors  were 
about  to  close  behind  her,  never  in  all  the  years  of 
life  to  reopen  again.  To  the  innermost  depths  of 
her  heart  she  felt  this,  with  a  sense  of  despair,  a 
passionate  desire  to  hold  that  which  was  slipping 
forever  from  her  grasp.  She  put  out  her  hand 
and  caught  the  folds  of  Mrs.  Cameron's  dress,  as 
the  latter  approached  her. 

"  Mother,"  she  gasped,  "  could  ye  not  send  me 
somewhere  to  hide  until  they  are  gone — clear 
gone?  I  can  not  leave  you — I  can  not !  It  will 
break  my  heart." 

"  O  my  bairn,  isn't  it  breaking  mine  ?  "  cried 


A   LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARC  AD  Y.  97 

the  elder  woman,  with  a  flood  of  tears.  "But 
hide  ye  ?  No,  my  lambie  :  that  we  canna  do.  It 
would  be  wrang,  sairly  wrang;  and  naught  on 
earth  is  worth  doing  wrang  for.  Ye  ken  that, 
Bernadette." 

"  Why  should  it  be  wrong  ?  "  demanded  Berna- 
dette, passionately.  "  They  have  no  right  to  me, 
let  them  sa}T  what  they  will.  It's  you  who  have 
the  light, — you  who  have  done  everything  for  me. 
Let  me  go  away  and  iiide  from  them,  mother. 
Let  us  go  to  Scotland,  where  Ave  have  so  often 
talked  of  going." 

As  the  girl  clung  to  her,  weeping  and  entreat- 
ing, who  can  say  what  strong  temptation  her 
words  roused  in  Janet  Cameron's  soul  ?  What 
picture  rose  in  her  mind  of  the  Highland  glens 
where  she  might  carry  this  child  of  her  love,  and 
be,  so  it  seemed  to  her,  safe  from  pursuit  ?  But 
to  her  upright  nature  the  one  thing  impossible  to 
do,  or  even  to  consider,  was  the  thing  which  was 
wrong.  So,  putting  the  seductive  picture  aside, 
she  tried  instead  to  face  bravely  the  desolation 
that  lay  before  her  in  the  long  years  to  be  spent 
without  Bernadette. 

"Ah!  if  it  were  right  to  be  done,  I'd  gladly 
fly  to  the  end  o'  the  earth  with  ye,  my  bonnie 
bairn,"  she  said ;  "  but  it  is  nae  possible  for  us 
to  do  what  is  wrang,  and  wrang  it  would  be. 
Your  ain  mother's  father  has  the  right  to  ye,  and 
none  can  gainsay  it.  Ye  must  go  with  him, — go 
7 


98  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   AIICADY. 

bravely  and  with  a  good  heart.  But,  O  my  dearie  ! 
there's  one  thing  lies  heavier  on  my  heart  than 
even  the  thought  of  parting,  and  that  is — will  ye 
keep  the  Catholic  faith?  Those  that  ye  belong  to 
are  not  Catholics,  and  they  will  try  to  turn  ye  to 
their  own  religion, — so  much  is  certain.  O 
Bernadette,  will  ye  stand  firm  ?  " 

She  looked  in  the  young  face  with  almost 
agonized  entreaty.  This  was  indeed  the  fear  that 
was  tearing  at  her  heart-strings.  But  Bernadette 
regarded  her  with  simple  surprise. 

"  And  why  should  I  not  stand  firm  ? '  she 
asked.  "  What  do  you  think  of  me,  mother, 
that  you  should  be  afraid  I  will  give  up  my  faith  ? 
Isn't  it  the  true — the  only  true  faith  ?  " 

"God  knows  it  is!'  answered  the  other, 
solemnly. 

"  Then  I'll  never  give  it  up, — I  promise  you 
that,"  said  the  girl.  "See — give  me  your- cruci- 
fix ! '  She  took  a  small,  well-worn  brass  crucifix 
from  the  place  where  she  knew  that  it  always  laj' 
on  the  bosom  of  the  elder  woman,  concealed  by 
the  spotless  kerchief  pinned  across  it ;  and,  kneel- 
ing down,  repeated  earnestlv,  with  a  solemn, 
thrilling  tone  in  her  young  voice :  "  I  promise 
that  I  will  never  give  up  my  faith,  no  matter 
what  the  consequences  may  be  ;  that  I  will  al- 
ways acknowledge  and  always  practice  it.  And 
God  is  my  witness  of  this." 

She  kissed  the  crucifix  reverently  as  she  finish- 


A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARCADY.  99 

ed,  and  then  looked  up  with  tremulous  smile  into 
the  face  gazing  so  tenderly  down  upon  her.  kt  Are 
you  satisfied  nowV  she  asked.  "  You  know  I 
could  never  break  that  promise — though  indeed 
there  was  no  need  of  it ;  for  I  could  never,  never 
give  up  my  faith." 

"  Ah,  my  bairn,  ye  dinna  ken  the  world  !  "  said 
the  woman,  who  herself  knew  little  of  it,  but 
who  guessed  something  of  its  dangers  in  this 
direction.  "  Your  new,  fine  kinsfolk  will  do  all 
they  can  to  turn  ye, — and  there's  much  to  help 
them." 

"  Let  them  try  !  "  exclaimed  Bernadette,  lifting 
her  head  proudly.  "  I'll  be  glad  of  a  chance  to 
show  them — and  you,  too,  mother, — how  little 
they  can  turn  me.  I'll  always  be  a  Catholic;  and, 
if  you  will  not  keep  me  now,  I'll  come  back  to  you 
as  soon  as  I  am  grown.  Alan  says  I  can  come  if  I 
please  when  I'm  twenty-one.  It's  true,  six  years 
is  a  long  time  to  wait." 

So  long,  my  bonnie  lamb,  that  ye'll  be  another 
person  altogether  when  that  time  comes,"  said 
Mrs.  Cameron,  wistfully.  "  Make  no  promises, 
then,  of  what  ye'll  do.  God  will  order  all  that — 
only  be  true  to  Him.  If  }*e're  that,  I'll  ask  no 
more.  I  know  your  heart  will  always  be  leal  to 
us ;  but  to  come  back,  to  be  as  we  have  been — 
nay,  I  fear  that  canna  be.  What  Ave've  once 
left  behind,  we  can  never  bring  back  again,  do 
what  we  will." 


100  A  LITTLE  MAID   OF  ARCADY. 

Again  it  came,  the  familiar  lesson,  clothed  in 
other  words,  against  which  we  all  rebel  when  it  is 
a  question  of  turning  our  faces  forever  from  some 
happiness  so  great  that  we  see  not  how  we  can 
bear  to  resign  it;  and  we  delude  our  hearts,  even 
as  poor  little  Bernadette  now  deluded  hers,  with 
futile  dreams  and  hopes  of  repeating  what  life 
never  allows  to  be  repeated.  Protest,  rebel  as  we 
may,  the  inflexible  tide  of  change  sweeps  us  on, 
and  nothing  under  the  sun  can  ever  be  again  as  it 
has  been.  No  wonder  that  poor  human  hearts, 
sick  of  mutability  and  loss,  and  longing  for  sta- 
bility at  least  in  the  things  they  love,  should  in  all 
ages  have  turned  with  yearning  and  hope  toward 
the  fair  and  perfect  vision  of  a  life  where  there 
shall  be  no  more  change. 

The  few  days  that  remained  of  Bernadette's 
stay  in  her  old  home  were  so  fraught  with  sorrow 
to  every  member  of  the  household  that  it  was  well 
the  time  was  not  prolonged.  There  was  a  pang 
in  every  familiar  incident,  in  every  passing  hour, 
of  the  life  so  fast  drawing  to  a  close.  The  girl 
herself  literally  seasoned  her  food  and  drink  with 
the  salt  bitterness  of  her  tears  ;  and  sobbed  herself 
to  sleep  every  night,  to  wake  in  the  morning  witli 
head  and  heart  alike  unfreshed.  When  Mrs. 
Chesselton  came  for  her  she  was  shocked  by  the 
change  that  prolonged,  passionate  grief  had 
wrought  in  the  face  that  a  few  days  before  had 
seemed  the  very  incarnation  of  bloom. 


A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   AKCADY.  101 

"  My  poor  child,"  she  said,  compassionately, 
"you  have  almost  made  yourself  ill!  Why  do 
you  break  your  heart  in  this  manner?  Do  you 
think  we  are  going  to  separate  you  in  an}^  final 
manner  from  your  kind  friends  ?  On  the  contrary, 
you  shall  come  back  to  see  them  next  summer.  I 
promise  you  that." 

But,  alas!  to  the  mind  of  Bernadette  at  this 
moment  "next  summer  "  seemed  too  distant  to  be 
considered  as  a  source  of  comfort ;  in  fact,  it  ap- 
peared hardly  nearer  than  the  vague  and  distant 
epoch,  of  which  Alan  and  herself  had  talked, 
when  she  should  be  twenty-one.  When  one  has 
seen  only  fifteen  summers,  an  immense  space  of 
time  seems  to  intervene  between  each.  Nor  did 
the  well-meant  promise  bring  much  comfort  to 
anybody  else.  The  elder  Cameron s  knew  well 
that  Bernadette  as  a  visitor  and  Bernadette  as 
their  own  child  were  two  essentially  different 
things,  and  that  a  gulf  would  soon  yawn  between 
them,  which  even  love  could  hardly  bridge  ;  while 
Alan  in  his  sorrow  and  wrath — the  deep,  bitter 
wrath  which  is  born  of  sorrow — was  far  beyond 
all  possibility  of  comfort  from  any  source. 

Yet  the  parting  itself  was  more  quiet  than  Mrs. 
Chesselton  had  feared.  Even  Bernadette's  tears 
had  been  well-nigh  exhausted,  and  the  others  pos- 
sessed the  reticence  of  their  race  in  too  strong  de- 
gree to  find  relief  in  vehement  outward  expression 
of  sorrow. 


102  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ALCADY. 

"  God  bless  ye,  my  bairn,  and  keep  ye  safe  wher- 
ever ye  may  go  !  "  said  the  father  solemnly,  as  he 
took  her  from  the  arms  of  his  wife  into  his  own 
embrace.  "  Ye  have  been  a  sunlight  in  our  home 
since  ever  ye  entered  it,  and  a  joy  to  heart  and 
e'en.  There'll  be  little  joy  left  for  us  for  many  a 
long  clay  after  ye  are  gone  ;  but  our  blessing  goes 
with  ye,  and  ye  il  never  forget  us,  that  I  know 
well." 

i 

"Forget  you — O  my  father,  my  father !"  was 
all  poor  Bernadette  could  say  amid  her  bitter 
tears. 

But  Alan's  was  the  last  face  she  saw.  Looking 
back  from  the  carriage,  as  a  turn  of  the  road  was 
about  to  shut  off  from  view  the  valley  and  the 
mill,  she  saw  him  standing  motionless  on  the 
bridge,  gazing  after  them  ;  and  even  at  that  dis- 
tance she  could  discern  the  sternness  and  sadness 
of  his  young  face. 

"  Alan,"  she  cried,  extending  her  hands  with  a 
piteous  gesture, — "Alan,  I  will  come  back  ! ' 

It  is  doubtful  if  Alan  heard  the  words,  but  he 
saw  the  gesture.  Waving  his  hand  toward  her, 
he  waited  until  the  carriage  was  out  of  sight,  then 
turned  away  and  disappeared  in  the  forest. 


CHAPTER  X. 

In  that  fair  city  of  the  South,  which  curves  its 
crescent  between  the  great  Father  of  Waters  and 
the  lovely  Lake  of  Ponchartrain,  with  its  outlet 
upon  the  tossing  waters  of  the  Gulf, — the  city 
which  the  romance  of  its  history  and  the  grace  of 
its  Creole  population  render  unique  and  fascinat- 
ing among  American  cities, — Bernadette  found 
herself  transplanted. 

Never  surely  was  contrast  stronger  or  more  sud- 
den. From  the  seclusion  of  that  far  mountain 
home  in  which  she  had  dwelt  as  in  some  Alpine 
solitude,  with  scarcely  any  social  intercourse,  and 
pleasures  so  simple  and  limited  that  to  one  of  dif- 
ferent rearing  they  would  hardly  have  seemed 
pleasures  at  all,  to  this  brilliant  city,  with  its 
abounding  life,  its  air  of  gayety,  its  foreign  pic- 
turesqueness,  was  a  change  so  great  that  for  a 
time  it  almost  stupefied  the  girl.  But  she  had  in 
her  veins  the  blood  of  the  same  race  that  gave 
New  Orleans  its  stamp  of  joyousness :  the  inex- 
tinguishable gaiete  de  cceur  was  hers  ;  and,  as  her 
aunt  at  once  perceived,  whatever  else  she  might 
be,  she  would  never  be  dull.  Moping  or  melan- 
choly in  any  degree  was  impossible  to  her.  In- 
consolable   as  she  had  been   at  leaving  the  only 

(103) 


104  A   LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

home  she  had  ever  known,  her  grief,  in  its  expres- 
sion at  least,  was  like  a  thunderstorm — vehement, 
passionate,  quickly  exhausted.  She  made  herself  ill 
at  first,  and  seriously  alarmed  her  new  guardians; 
but  before  long  the  clouds  parted,  and  the  sun- 
shine of  her  smiles  shone  forth.  It  was  not  that 
she  forgot, — it  was  not  that  deep  in  her  heart  the 
recollection  of  the  past  was  not  guarded  with  a 
passionate  tenderness ;  but  she  hated  gloom  as  all 
such  natures  hate  it,  and  turned  toward  amuse- 
ment and  joy  as  a  flower  to  the  sun. 

And  she  quickly  showed  a  capacity  of  adapting 
herself  to  her  new  surroundings  that  astonished 
her  relatives.  "I  did  not  think  she  would  be 
stupid,"  Mrs.  Cbesselton  observed :  "  Marian's 
child  could  not  be  that;  but  I  certainly  thought 
that  for  a  time  at  least  she  would  be  awkward 
and  ill  at  ease.  I  fancied  we  should  have  trouble 
to  rub  off  the  stamp  of  the  farm-house.  But  there 
is  nothing  of  the  kind.  Of  course  one  sees  that 
she  has  not  been  brought  up  in  our  world,  but  the 
difference  is  more  that  which  would  be  apparent 
in  some  convent-bred  girl  than  such  as  I  feared  to 
find." 

"She  is  charming,"  replied  her  son.  "Don't 
distress  yourself,  ma  mere,  because  she  has  a  dif- 
ferent stamp  from  our  world.  It  gives  a  touch  of 
distinction  to  her,  a  flavor  of  the  Arcadia  from 
which  she  seems  to  come.  In  mind  as  w^ell  as  in 
manners   she   is   like   a  maiden  wandered  from  a 


A   LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY.  105 

pastoral,  so  quaint,  so  fresh,  so  untouched  by 
modern  ideas.  Those  good  Highlanders  with 
whom  she  lived  seem,  with  all  their  simplicity,  to 
have  been  absolutely  devoid  of  what  we  know  as 
vulgarity,  and  to  have  existed  in  a  world  of  their 
own,  not  much  later  than  that  of  '  Waverley.'  In 
that  region  of  simple  thought  and  emotion,  Berna- 
dette,  with  her  inheritance  of  different  and  more 
complex  forces  of  character,  has  been  brought  up. 
I  find  the  result  exceedingly  interesting.  She  is 
so  quick  that  she  will  learn  very  rapidly  all  things 
necessary.  But  she  will  always  retain — at  least  I 
think  so — a  certain  Arcadian  simplicity  of  mind." 

"  How  absurd,  Ridgeley ! '  said  his  mother,  a 
little  impatiently.  "  With  the  aid  of  your  imag- 
ination you  are  making  a  'study'  of  Bernadette, 
and  investing  her  with  all  manner  of  fanciful 
attributes;  whereas  the  child  only  shows,  as  is 
naturally  to  be  expected,  the  results  of  the  acci- 
dent which  placed  her  in  a  position  so  remote 
from  the  world  to  which  she  belongs.  But  she  is 
very  quick,  very  adaptive,  and  I  have  no  fear  of 
any  lasting  result.  After  a  year  or  two  you  will 
not  be  able  to  tell  that  her  bringing  up  has  been 
in  any  respect  different  from  Fay's." 

Ridgeley  Chesselton  shook  his  head.  "  I  dis- 
agree with  you,"  he  said.  "  Can  the  influences 
which  surrounded  the  ten  most  impressionable 
years  of  life  ever  be  obliterated  ?  I  think  not — 
and,  in  Bernadette's  case,  I  hope  not.     Fay  is  like 


106  A   LITTLE   MAID    OF   ARCADY. 

a  thousand  and  one  other  girls ;  but  Bernadette 
is  a  little  maid  of  Arcady,  and  so  I  think  she  will 
ever  remain." 

And  by  this  opinion  the  speaker  proved  that 
his  own  penetration  was  more  than  ordinarily 
keen.  It  was  true.  Change  as  she  might  in  out- 
ward respects,  in  the  widening  of  her  knowledge 
and  experience,  Bernadette  would  never  be  likehv 
to  lose  the  stamp  given  her  in  that  simple  home, 
where  the  moral  atmosphere  w^as  as  pure  and  clear 
as  the  mountain  air  which  surrounded  it.  But 
this  was  chief! v  due  to  a  reason  which  Mr.  Chessel- 
ton  did  not  take  into  account.  So  long  as  she 
held  the  faith  she  had  received  there,  so  long  the 
influence  of  those  virtues  which  had  sprung  from 
it  would  remain ;  and  in  the  finest  and  highest 
sense  she  would  be  an  Arcadian  still  at  heart. 

It  was  not  long  before  the  question  of  this  faith 
arose. 

"  I  find,"  remarked  Mrs.  Chesselton  to  her 
father,  a  few  days  after  they  were  settled  again  in 
their  home,  "that  our  little  Bernadette  has  been 
taught  Romanism.  Strange  to  say,  those  Cam- 
erons,  though  Scotch,  are  Catholics.  What  shall 
we  do  about  it?  " 

"Surely  nothing  is  easier,"  said  Mr.  Kidgeley. 
"  Tell  her  that  it  is  our  wish  that  she  should  be  of 
the  religion  of  our  family ;  take  her  to  church 
with  you,  and  let  her  have  the  same  religious  in- 


A   LITTLE   MAID    OF   ARCADY.  107 

struction  as  Fa}r, — I  suppose  that  she  has  some," 
he  added  as  if  with  an  after-thought. 

"  She  has  had  some  of  course,"  answered  Mrs. 
Chesselton,  vaguely.  "  But  I  fear  matters  will 
not  be  so  easy  with  Bernadette.  She  seems  dis- 
posed to  hold  to  the  teaching  she  has  received. 
She  told  me  only  this  morning  that  she  intended 
always  to  be  a  Catholic.  I  really  think  that  you 
had  better  speak  to  her.  It  will  simplify  matters 
if  she  understands  at  once  that  in  coming  to  us 
she  must  adopt  what  we  think  best  for  her." 

"  Tut !  tut !  "  said  Mr.  Ridgeley.  "  The  idea  of 
a  child  of  her  age  having  religious  opinions  ! 
Send  her  to  me  by  all  means.  I  will  soon  settle 
the  matter." 

A  few  minutes  later  Bernadette  appeared  at  the 
door  of  the  room,  where  she  paused  a  moment  be- 
fore her  grandfather's  voice  bade  her  enter.  The 
luxury  and  beauty  of  her  present  surroundings 
were  a  continual  pleasure  to  the  girl,  in  a  sense 
that  those  who  had  always  been  accustomed  to 
such  surroundings  could  little  understand.  She 
had  the  strong,  instinctive  love  of  beauty  which 
we  call  the  artistic  sense ;  and  the  fact  that  it 
never  before  had  gratification,  except  in  the  love- 
liness of  nature,  made  her  appreciate  with  a  keenly 
quickened  delight  the  charm  of  her  present  home. 
Every  apartment  formed  a  picture  that  she  never 
wearied  of  contemplating ;  but  most  of  all  the  one 
in  which  her  grandfather  now  sat,  his  own  special 


108  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

room,  with  its  softly  harmonious  walls  and  hang- 
ings, its  low  bookcases  filled  with  books,  its  pic- 
tures and  bronzes,  its  quaint  and  curious  articles 
gathered  from  foreign  lands,  its  carved  tables  and 
snowy  rugs ;  and,  as  a  finishing  touch,  the  figure 
of  its  occupant  seated  in  a  large,  morocco-covered 
chair,  his  fine,  aristocratic  head,  with  its  crown  of 
silver  curls,  outlined  against  the  high  back;  while 
beyond  was  an  open  window,  a  gallery  shaded  by 
climbing  roses,  and  a  stretch  of  green  turf  set 
with  trees. 

Meanwhile,  as  Mr.  Ridgeley  looked  up  at  the 
sound  of  the  step  that  paused  on  his  threshold,  he, 
too,  was  struck  by  another  picture — that  which 
the  unconscious  girl  made  as  she  stood  framed  in 
the  doorway.  Dressed  with  the  apparent  sim- 
plicity becoming  her  age,  yet  with  the  fine  dis- 
tinction of  material,  style  and  cut  which  only 
wealth  and  exquisite  taste  combined  can  compass, 
Bernadette  looked  like  the  young  daughter  of  a 
royal  house  rather  than  like  one  who  only  yester- 
day had  been  searching  for  eggs  in  hay-lofts,  and 
at  home  among  the  flour-sacks  of  a  mill.  Her 
beauty  and  her  refinement  shone  out  as  a  jewel 
shines  when  properly  set ;  and  it  would  have 
been  hard  to  find  a  lovelier  face  than  that  on 
which  her  grandfather's  gaze  rested  with  pride 
and  pleasure. 

"  Come  in,  my  dear,"  he  said.  "  Your  aunt  has 
told   you   that    I   wished  to    see  you.     Don't  be 


A   LITTLE   MAID    OF   ARCADY.  109 

afraid.  I  have  nothing  to  say  that  need  frighten 
you.  Sit  down  there" — he  pointed  to  a  low, 
luxurious  chair, — "  and  let  us  talk  a  little.  Now," 
he  went  on,  as  Bernadette  obeyed,  and  sat  before 
him,  with  her  clear  hazel  eyes  lifted  to  his  face, 
"  I  think  you  are  a  very  reasonable  girl  for  your 
age,  and  I  am  sure  you  are  aware  that  }*our  aunt 
and  myself  desire  to  do  everything  for  your  ben- 
efit, and  that  we  know  much  better  than  you  pos- 
sibly can  what  is  for  your  benefit.     Is  not  this  so  ?  ' 

"  Oh,  yes,"  Bernadette  replied  readily,  "  I  am 
very  sure  of  that !  " 

"I  was  certain  that  you  would  be,"  he  said, 
approvingly.  k'  This  being  so,  then,  you  must 
admit  that  it  is  wrell  for  3-011  to  submit  to  our 
guidance  in  everything,  even  when  we  prescribe 
the  form  of  religion  that  we  think  it  best  for  you 
to  profess.  Of  course,"  with  a  slight  shrug  of  the 
shoulders,  "  all  religions  are  in  substance  the 
same ;  but  some  are  preferable  to  others,  and  we 
naturally  think  that  the  religious  body  to  which 
we  belong  is  better  than  the  one  in  which  you 
have  been  so  far  trained.  I  am  sure,  my  dear, 
that  you  will  see  the  necessity  of  being  guided  by 
us  in  this  matter,  and  ceasing  to  call  yourself  a 
Roman  Catholic." 

The  girl's  face  had  grown  paler  as  he  went  on 
speaking,  and  her  eyes  had  taken  a  startled, 
wistful  look.  Sweet  and  docile  by  nature,  it  was 
very  hard  for  her  to  put  herself  in  opposition  to 


110  A   LITTLE   MAID    OF   ARC  AD  Y. 

these  new-found  relatives,  who  were  so  kind,  and 
whom  she  had  already  begun  to  love.  But  the 
beautiful  and  luxurious  room  in  which  she  sat 
seemed  to  fade  away,  and  another  scene  rose  be- 
fore her  vision : — a  farm-house  room,  plain  and 
bare,  with  boughs  softly  swaying  before  the  open 
door,  and  a  glimpse  of  great  mountain  forms  be- 
yond ;  a  weeping  woman  who  prophesied  this, 
and  a  kneeling  girl  with  a  crucifix  in  her  hand, 
who  solemnly  promised  to  that  woman  and  to 
God — what?  The  hazel  eyes  were  troubled,  but 
very  steadfast,  as  they  looked  up  into  the  face 
that  gazed  down  upon  her. 

"  No,  grandpapa,"  she  said  bravely,  "  I  am  sorry 
that  I  can  not  do  that.  In  anything  else  I  will 
obey  you,  but  I  can  never  cease  to  call  myself  and 
to  be  a  Catholic." 

There  followed  a  short  silence.  Mr.  Ridgeley 
was  so  astounded  by  this  open  and  wholly  unex- 
pected declaration,  this  calm  ignoring  of  his  com- 
mand, that  for  a  moment  he  had  literally  nothing 
to  say.  It  was  difficult  to  know  how  to  meet  such 
a  revolt.  To  grow  angry,  storm,  bluster  and  vitu- 
perate was,  of  course,  possible— or  would  have 
been  possible  to  another  man ;  but  he  was  not 
only  too  much  of  a  gentleman  to  be  guilty  of  such 
conduct,  but  he  was  really  more  astonished  than 
angry.  Why  should  the  child  be  obstinate  on  a 
point  that  seemed  to  him  so  unimportant  as  this? 

"  I  regret,  my  dear,"  he  said  quietly,  "  that  it 


A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ACCADY.  Ill 

should  be  necessary  for  me  to  say  more  to  you 
on  this  subject.  I  am  accustomed  to  being  obeyed 
by  those  from  whom  I  have  a  right  to  exact  obe- 
dience, without  the  need  of  reiterating  my  com- 
mands. But  since  I  do  not  wish  you  to  think  me 
a  tyrant,  I  should  like  to  know  what  reason  you 
have  for  believing  that  your  judgment  can  pos- 
sibly be  better  than  mine  on  this  subject  ? ' 

Bernadette's  eyes  sank.  Put  in  this  way  the 
question  was  certainly  difficult  to  answer.  Yet 
she  spoke  with  courage  as  well  as  modesty. 

"There  is  only  one  reason  why  I  could  think 
so,"  she  replied  ;  "  and  that  is  because  the  Catho- 
lic faith  is  the  faith  that  God  Himself  has  given 
us,  and  He  must  know  best." 

Her  grandfather  smiled  indulgently.  "  When 
you  grow  a  little  older,"  he  said,  "you  will  find 
that  that  is  what  the  adherents  of  every  religion 
think.  And,  in  one  sense,  they  are  all  right. 
God  Himself,  as  I  believe,  gave  us  the  knowledge 
of  certain  fundamental  truths;  but  these  have 
been  modified  and  changed  in  many  ways  by 
human  ideas.  And  in  none  is  this  more  the  ca.-e 
than  in  that  faith  which  we  call  the  Koman 
Catholic.  I  will  give  you  some  history  to  read 
which  will  instruct  you  on  the  usurpations  of  that 
Church.  Meanwhile  I  expect  you  to  believe  and 
obev  me.  Religious  differences  in  a  household  are 
very  undesirable,  and  to  be  avoided  if  possible.  I 
desire,  therefore,  that  you  will  go  to  church  with 


112  A   LITTLE   MAID    OF   ARC  ADV. 

your  aunt  and  conform  yourself  in  all  respects  to 
her  guidance  on  religious  points.  And  now  let  us 
hear  no  more  of  this  matter." 

He  took  up  a  newspaper  which  lay  on  his  knee, 
as  if  to  indicate  that  the  audience  was  at  an  end ; 
but  Bernadetle  remained  motionless  in  her  seat, 
and  presently  said,  in  a  low  voice  and  with  an 
effort : 

"I  can  not  go,  grandpapa,  letting  you  think 
that  I  shall  obey  you ;  for  it  is  impossible  for  me 
to  do  so." 

Mr.  Ridgeley  lowered  his  newspaper,  and  looked 
at  her  with  a  glance  of  such  stern  displeasure  that 
her  heart  sank. 

"  Do  you  mean  to  say,"  he  asked,  in  a  voice 
before  which  his  children  had  always  shrunk, 
"  that  you  will  not  obey  me?  " 

"I  can  not"  she  answered,  trembling  but  firm. 
"I  can  not  obey  even  you,  when  to  do  so  would 
be  to  disobey  God." 

She  clasped  her  hands,  as  she  spoke,  in  uncon- 
scious entreaty;  her  eyes  as  she  looked  at  him 
were  full  of  tears.  But  painful  as  she  felt  the 
necessity  to  set  herself  in  this  manner  against  his 
wishes,  there  was  no  sign  of  yielding  in  face  or 
glance.  Looking  at  her  keenly,  Mr.  Ridgeley  saw 
this,  and  he  was  not  a  man  to  fio-lit  a  losing  battle 
even  with  a  child.  He  raised  his  hand  and  pointed 
to  the  door. 

"  Go  !  "  he  said,  coldly.     "  I  am  exceedingly  dis- 


A    LITTLE    MAID    OF   ARCADY.  1 L3 

pleased  with  and  disappointed  in  you.  I  see  that 
you  have  been  made  a  fanatic.  There  is  no  char- 
acter so  objectionable.  Go,  and  I  will  consider 
how  to  deal  with  you  in  order  to  insure  the  obe- 
dience vou  refusfj  " 
8 


CHAPTER  XL 

It  was  fortunate  for  Bernaclette  that  she  had 
not  fallen  into  the  hands  of  any  member  of  that 
very  objectionable  class  to  which  her  grandfather 
affirmed  that  she  belonged.  Many  people  are 
accustomed,  without  much  consideration  of  justice, 
to  brand  as  fanatics  those  who  are  opposed  to 
them  in  ideas ;  but  we  are  all  agreed  that  the 
genuine  fanatic  does  exist  in  considerable  number, 
quite  apart  from  any  prejudice  in  regarding  him  ; 
and  woe  be  to  the  person  who  falls  into  his  power  ! 
Fanaticism  was  something,  however,  of  which  his 
worst  enemy,  supposing  he  had  one,  could  not 
accuse  Mr.  Ridgeley.  He  was,  on  the  contrary,  a 
type  of  the  result  of  modern  enlightenment;  inas- 
much as  he  believed  nothing  strong])'  himself,  and 
had  a  spirit  of  indifferent  tolerance  for  everything 
that  others  believed.  Moreover,  he  had  no  fancy 
for  playing  the  tyrant,  thereby  incurring  much 
annoyance,  gaining  the  hatred  which  a  tyrant 
never  fails  to  inspire,  and  probably  at  last,  failing 
to  obtain  obedience.  Therefore,  when  he  saw  his 
daughter  he  said  to  her: 

"  I  find  Bernadette  very  obstinate  on  the  relig- 
ious question.  That  is  natural,  brought  up  as  she 
unfortunately  has  been.  People  of  that  kind — I 
(114) 


A   LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARCADY.  115 

mean  of  the  kind  with  whom  she  has  associated — 
are  narrow-minded  in  whatever  they  believe  ;  and, 
in  fact,  the  Scotch  character  leans  to  fanaticism, 
whether  it  gives  allegiance  to  the  Covenant  or  the 
Pope.  It  is  a  pity  that  the  child  should  have 
been  reared  in  such  a  way  of  thinking;  but  at 
present  I  see  no  means  of  changing  her  without 
doing  more  harm  than  good." 

"Did  she  refuse  to  obey  you?"  asked  Mrs. 
Chesselton,  with  surprise. 

"  Positively,"  answered  Mr.  Ridgeley,  with  a 
smile.  "  There  was  the  old  talk  of  obeying  God 
rather  than  man,  and  I  could  see  that  she  had 
braced  herself  to  become  a  martyr  if  necessary. 
Now,  we  have  no  desire  to  make  a  martyr  of  her. 
It  is  a  great  mistake  in  the  first  place,  for  opinion 
is  never  changed  by  persecution ;  and  in  the 
second  place,  it  would  be  very  bad  to  array  her 
feelings  against  us  while  we  are  still  strangers  to 
her.  I  think  that  this  determination  not  to  give 
up  the  form  of  religion  she  has  been  taught  is  only 
an  expression  of  her  loyalty  to  those  to  whom  she 
is  still  so  much  attached.  Let  us  be  patient  with 
it.  Drop  the  subject,  ignore  rather  than  combat 
the  subject,  and  in  time  she  will  forget  it." 

"And  if  not?"  said  Mrs.  Chesselton,  who 
thought  there  was  a  decided  chance  of  the  con- 
trary. 

Her  father  shrugged  his  shoulders.  "  If  not, 
we  must  submit  to   the  inevitable.     It  is  not  a 


116  A   LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

religion  I  should  care  to  adopt ;  but  a  good  many- 
very  admirable  people  belong  to  it,  and  it  has  some 
desirable  features.  If,  when  she  is  grown,  Berna- 
dette  chooses  to  handicap  herself  with  it,  no  one 
can  prevent  her  from  doing  so.  But  what  a  child 
of  her  age  calls  herself  is  of  no  importance.  Simply, 
as  I  have  said,  ignore  it.  Send  her  to  school  with 
Fa}',  and  time  will  do  the  rest." 

l'But  there  are  a  few  practical  points  at  present. 
She  wants  to  go  to  Catholic  churches,  she  talks  of 
confession — " 

Mr.  Ridge  ley  waved  his  hand  impatiently. 
"  There !  there  !  I  leave  those  things  to  your 
judgment.  It  would  not  do,  I  suppose,  to  forbid 
her  going.  That  would  only  be  to  teach  methods 
of  deceit  which  might  bear  fruit  in  other  directions. 
But  she  must  understand  that  she  can  not  go  there 
or  anywhere  else  alone.  That  rule  must  be  in- 
flexible. If  you  choose  to  send  a  trustworthy 
maid  with  her,  she  can  go  occasionally  to  a  Catho- 
lic church  ;  but  if  not,  she  must  accompany  you  or 
stay  at  home.  Make  her  comprehend  that  I  will 
tolerate  no  disobedience  on  this  point." 

And  so  Bernadette,  who,  as  her  grandfather 
divined,  had  braced  herself  for  persecution,  found 
that  she  had  onlj'  to  encounter  a  certain  degree  of 
cool,  well-bred  disapproval,  and  not  a  few  difficul- 
ties in  the  way  of  the  practice  of  her  faith.  Mrs. 
Chesselton's  French  maid,  not  herself  overbur- 
dened with  piety,  was  detailed  to  accompany  her  to 


A   LITTLE  MAID   OF   AKCADY.  117 

church,  if  she  insisted  on  going.  But  there  were 
many  occasions  when  Celestine  was  not  at  leisure  ; 
there  were  also  many  other  things  which  made 
church-going  difficult ;  and,  in  a  multiplicity  of 
studies,  occupations  and  amusements,  it  finally 
came  to  pass  that,  save  to  an  early  Mass  on  Sun- 
day, Bernadette  rarely  crossed  the  threshold  of  a 
Catholic  church. 

But  if,  as  was  natural  under  these  circumstances, 
she  grew  careless  with  regard  to  the  practice  of 
faith,  it  was  none  the  less  true  that  she  never 
wavered  in  her  allegiance  to  it.  She  never  con- 
sented to  accompany  her  aunt  and  cousin  to  the 
fashionable  Protestant  church  where  they  wor- 
shipped, and  she  unhesitatingly  proclaimed  herself 
a  Catholic  on  all  occasions  when  the  avowal  was 
called  for.  Ridgeley  Chesselton,  to  whom  she  had 
been  an  amusing  study  from  the  first,  was  ver}' 
much  interested  by  this  attitude  of  hers,  and  was 
the  only  person  who  spoke  to  her  freely  on  the 
subject. 

"  It  is  a  mistake,  Bernadette,"  he  would  say  to 
her,  gravely  and  admonishingly.  "  I  don't  mean 
the  religion  itself — that  is  as  good  as  another,  I 
suppose, — but  your  undertaking  to  play  the  part 
of  St.  Agnes.  In  the  first  place,  we  are  not  going 
to  cut  your  head  off,  nor  do  we  keep  even  the 
mildest  kind  of  lions  on  hand  to  terrify  would-be 
martyrs.  In  the  second  place,  the  character  does 
not  suit  you.     You  are  not  made  to  carry  a  palm, 


118  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARC  AD  Y. 

but  a  wreath  of  flowers.  No  painter,  my  child, 
would  ever 

1  Draw  you  unaware 
With  a  halo  round  your  hair.' 

In  other  words,  you  are  not  fitted  to  be  a  saint, 
but  a  little  maid  of  Arcadv.  Joyousness  is  your 
note, — the  pastoral  joyousness  that  knows  nothing 
of  creeds  and  doctrines  and  such  stern  subjects." 

Who  does  not  know  that  this  gentle  ridicule  was 
harder  to  bear  than  any  degree  of  serious  denun- 
ciation ?  Bernadette  certainly  did  not  bear  much 
resemblance  to  St.  Agnes  as  she  looked  at  the 
speaker  with  a  flash  in  her  eyes. 

"  I  think,"  she  said  distinctly,  "  that  you  are  the 
most  disagreeable  person  I  ever  saw.  Why  do 
you  talk  to  me  as  if  I  were  trying  to  appear  some- 
thing which  I  am  not?  I  am  a  Catholic,  }*es — 
and  I  mean  to  live  and  die  one, — but  I  have  never 
said  anything  about  being  a  saint  or  a  martyr.  It 
is  you  that  say  such  things  in  order  that  you  may 
laugh  at  me." 

"Saintly  meekness  is  certainly  not  one  of  your 
characteristics,"  observed  Mr.  Chesselton.  "But 
if  you  are  not  ambitious  of  being  a  martyr,  my 
child,  why  do  you  think  it  necessary  to  proclaim  a 
faith  which  is  so  objectionable  to  your  present 
guardians  ?  People  can  believe  what  they  please, 
for  conviction  is  free — and  about  the  only  free 
thing  in  the  world,  by  the  bye, — but  sensible  peo- 


A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY.  119 

pie  don't  think  it  necessary  to  provoke  antagonism 
by  proclaiming  all  they  believe." 

"  You  mean  that  I  ought  to  keep  silence  and  say 
nothing  of  what  I  believe  ? "  asked  Bernadette, 
scornfully.  "That  would  be  what  /should  call 
denying  God  and  being  a  coward  besides." 

"Very  likely,"  said  the  young  man,  looking  at 
her  meditatively;  "that  is  what  you  would  call  it- 
You  are  not  old  enough  yet  to  have  learned  the 
wisdom  of  reticence — I  doubt  if  you  ever  will 
learn  it.  And  a  coward,  my  little  Arcadian  maid, 
you  are  not.  No  one  can  doubt  that  you  possess 
courage  and  loyalty  in  extreme  degree.  These 
are  fine  virtues,  but  remember  that  all  people  have 
les  defauts  de  ses  qualities— you  are  learning  French 
so  well  that  I  need  not  translate, — and  that  it  is 
of  the  excess  of  our  virtues  we  should  most  be- 
ware ;  for  there  is  the  pitfall  that  will  trip  us  up." 

"  1  don't  understand  you,"  said  Bernadette,  re- 
garding him  doubtfully  ;  for  although  her  intelli- 
gence was  quickening  and  widening  every  day, 
Ridgeley  Chesselton  was  still  able  to  puzzle  her  as 
much  as  when  he  had  first  met  her  by  the  side  of 
the  creek,  under  the  shadow  of  the  mill. 

He  laughed.  "  No,"  he  said,  "  you  don't  under- 
stand me  now,  but  you  will  some  day,  when  you 
have  found  one  of  the  pitfalls  to  which  I  allude. 
Judging  from  what  I  know  of  your  character  at 
present,  you  will  gallantly  and  recklessly  rush 
into  it." 


120  A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

It  amused  him  to  talk  in  this  manner  to  the  girl, 
to  see  the  wonder  in  her  eyes  when  she  did  not 
understand  him,  the  quick  curl  of  her  lips  when 
she  did;  for  there  could  be  no  doubt  of  the  fact 
that  there  was  something  of  antagonism  between 
the  two,  at  least  on  Bernadette's  side.  Utterly 
unaccustomed  to  anything  like  badinage  or  mock- 
ery, she  felt  always  as  if  Chesselton  were  laughing 
at  her;  and  not  even  the  admiration  that  he  openly 
expressed  for  her  beauty  could  reconcile  her  to  the 
tone  of  his  conversation. 

Meanwhile  Mr.  Ridgeley,  pondering  much  upon 
what  he  could  do  to  repay  the  debt  under  which 
he  felt  himself  to  the  Camerons,  decided,  since 
they  positively  refused  any  compensation  in  the 
form  of  money,  to  offer  to  educate  Alan  in  what- 
ever profession  or  line  of  business  his  parents 
should  choose.  But,  to  his  surprise,  this  offer  was 
refused.  The  father"  wrote  himself,  saying,  in 
somewhat  quaint  Old  World  phrase,  that  while 
grateful  for  the  proffered  kindness,  \\\Qy  could  not 
accept  it.  They  had  themselves  decided  to  give 
Alan  the  education  he  desired  in  engineering,  and 
there  was  no  need  that  they  should  be  beholden  to 
any  one  to  assist  them  in  doing  so.  They  were 
obliged  for  the  kindness  that  had  prompted  the 
offer  ;  but  the  fact  that  there  was  any  obligation  to 
be  discharged  was  again  denied. 

"  You  owe  us  naught  for  the  little  lass,"  the 
Highlandman    wrote.     "  She    was    as    our   own 


A    LITTLE   MAID    OF    ARC  AD  Y.  121 

while  we  had  her,  and  ye  may  tell  her  that  since 
she  is  gone  the  house  is  so  lonely  we  can  not  stay 
here.  We  have  made  up  our  minds  to  go  back  to 
Scotland.  It  is  all  that  will  comfort  the  mother's 
heart  for  the  loss  of  her  bairn." 

"  I  am  very  glad  of  that,"  said  Mrs.  Chesselton 
when  she  heard  the  news.  "  I  am  not  so  ungrate- 
ful or  so  snobbish  as  to  wish  Bernadette  to  forget 
those  who  did  so  much  for  her ;  but  association 
with  them  would  be  very  undesirable,  and  could 
lead  to  no  good  result  on  either  side.  They  are 
very  sensible  to  go  back  to  Scotland." 

"They  are  determined  that  we  shall  remain 
under  an  obligation  to  them,"  said  Mr.  Ridgeley, 
frowning.  "  I  do  not  like  it.  I  always  prefer  to 
pay  my  debts.  What  right  have  they  to  refuse 
to    let    me  do    so  ?     Confound  their  insufferable 

pride  !  " 

But  when  Bernadette  heard  of  the  resolve  to  re- 
turn to  Scotland  on  the  part  of  her  foster-parents, 
she  was  almost  as  inconsolable  in  her  grief  as  she 
had  been  at  parting  from  them. 

"  Oh,  how  can  they  go  so  far  away!  "  she  cried, 
piteously.  "  I  shall  never  see  them  again, — 
never,  never  !  It  is  cruel !  And  how  often  we 
talked  of  going  to  Scotland,  but  /was  to  go  with 
them.  And  now  they  go  and  leave  me  here !  Oh, 
how  have  they  the  heart  to  do  it !  ' 

She  wrote,  expressing  these  sentiments  vehe- 
mently ;  and  it  was  Alan  who  answered  her,  since 


122  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARC  AD  Y. 

letter-writing  was  a  great  effort  to  both  his  father 
and  mother. 

"  They  bid  me  tell  you,"  the  bo}x  wrote,  "  that 
they  are  going  because  we  can  none  of  us  bide 
here  now  that  you  are  gone.  It  would  make  you 
greet  if  you  could  see  how  mother  pines  for  you. 
She  is  no  bit  like  herself,  and  father  is  afraid  she 
will  fall  ill.  So  he  said  to  her :  (  Janet,  is  there 
aught  you  would  like  to  do  ? '  And  she  said : 
4  Yes  :  I  would  like  to  go  away ;  for  I  can  never 
be  content  here  any  more.  I  miss  my  bairn  at 
every  turn,  and  I  feel  as  if  my  heart  would  break 
for  the  sight  of  her  bonnie  face  ?  Then  father  said : 
1  Where  do  you  want  to  go.'  And  she  said  :  'Let 
us  go  back  to  the  Highlands.  I'm  home -sick  for 
the  glens  as  I  have  not  been  since  the  first  year  I 
left  them.  Maybe  the  pain  in  my  heart  for  Berna- 
dette  will  not  be  so  sore  there.'  And  father  said 
— you  know  his  quiet  way  :  '  Janet  my  woman, 
you  shall  go.'  So  the  next  day  he  began  to  pre- 
pare. The  mill  and  farm  are  sold.  Adam  Cryder 
has  bought  them.  And  as  soon  as  we  can  settle 
everything  we  are  going  to  sail  for  Scotland.  I 
said  at  first  I  would  go  to  see  you  before  we 
started,  but  mother  bade  me  not  think  of  it, — not 
only  because  you  are  so  far  away  and  it  would  cost 
so  much  to  reach  you,  but  because  I  would  shame 
you  among  3^0  ur  fine  kinsfolk.  k  Wait,'  she  said, 
'until  you  have  had  your  education  and  are  a  man, 
and  maybe  then  she'll  not  be  ashamed  to  see  you. 


A  LITTLE   MATD   OF   ARCADY.  123 

So  I'll  wait,Bernadette.  Father  says  I  shall  study 
to  be  an  engineer — to  build  railroads  and  bridges 
and  light-houses  ;  and  when  I  have  finished  and 
am  grown,  I  will  go  to  see  you  and  fulfill  my 
promise  to  you.     Be  sure  of  that." 

Little  more  than  this — only  a  few  domestic  de- 
tails and  affectionate  messages  from  the  parents — 
the  letter  contained  ;  but,  simple  as  it  was,  what  a 
picture  it  painted  for  the  girl's  heart  to  sorrow 
over  for  many  a  day  !  The  familiar  home  aban- 
doned for  love  and  loss  of  her !  It  seemed  almost 
more  than  she  could  bear ;  for  under  the  brief 
words  Alan  had  recorded,  she  felt,  with  keen  in- 
tuitive knowledge,  the  depth  of  grief  and  desola- 
tion that  made  such  a  step  not  only  possible  but 
imperative.  How  the  mother,  whom  she  had  al- 
ways known  so  quiet  and  reticent,  must  have 
pined  before  her  husband  would  have  noticed  the 
change  in  her  sufficiently  to  ask  the  question  that 
for  him  meant  so  much!  And  how  she  must  have 
suffered  before  she  would  herself  have  proposed 
that  their  home  of  years  should  be  broken  up,  and 
they  should  once  more  cross  the  ocean  to  the  land 
of  their  birth,  in  order  that  she  might  find  comfort 
in  the  hills  and  glens  which  would  be  full  of  the 
memories  of  her  youth,  and  free  of  association 
with  the  child  she  had  lost*!  Bernadette  felt  it 
all,  with  a  passionate  depth  of  insight  rare  in  one 
of  her  age ;  and  with  a  passionate  self-reproach 
also,  because   her  grief  had  been  less  than  that  of 


124  A   LITTLE   MAID    OF   ARC  AD  Y. 

the  faithful  hearts  she  had  left.  She  had  been  dis- 
tracted from  her  sorrow,  and  consoled  by  the 
novelty  of  her  new  life,  by  its  pleasures  and  ad- 
vantages, and  the  change  that  is  so  dear  to  youth  ; 
while  they,  remaining  among  the  scenes  from 
which  she  had  departed,  had  missed  and  sorrowed 
for  her  with  a  poignancy  that  made  life  amid  those 
surroundings  unbearable  to  them. 

"  I  am  a  shallow,  miserable  creature,  without 
any  depth  of  feeling!"  the  girl  said  to  herself, 
with  contempt.  "  I  do  not  deserve  that  they 
should  love  me  so  much.  But  I  will  be  faithful 
to  them, — I  will,  I  will !  Nothing  shall  ever  make 
me  forget  or  "turn  away  from  them;  and  I  will 
never  as  long  as  I  live  be  anything  but  a  Catho- 
lic." 

She  took  as  she  spoke  the  little  brass  crucifix, 
which  had  been  Janet  Cameron's  parting  gift  to 
her,  from  its  place  at  the  head  of  her  bed,  and 
kissed  it,  with  a  sense  of  registering  a  vow.  And 
if  in  this  vow  there  was  as  much  of  tender  human 
loyalty  as  of  divine  faith,  He  who  fashioned  our 
hearts  and  knows  their  weakness  may  have  par- 
doned it. 


PART    II. 
CHAPTER  I. 

Some  things  seem  to  us  like  dreams.  However 
much  of  realities  they  may  be — realities  often  of 
the  sweetest  or  bitterest  kind, — they  do  not  belong 
to  this  hard  world  of  prosaic  fact.  There  is  a 
glamour  about  them  which  we  can  ill  define,  but 
which,  placing  them  in  the  world  of  romance  once, 
places  them  there  forever — leaves  forever  its  soft- 
ness (which  is  not  vague)  about  their  outlines 
and  their  tints.  Thoughts,  feelings,  and  aspira- 
tions are  kindled  in  us  different  from  any  we  had 
ever  felt  before  or  are  ever  likely  to  feel  again. 
While  they  reign  over  that  kingdom  which  we 
call  the  soul,  they  lift  it  into  another  world;  and 
when  they  pass  away  we  wake  as  from  a  dream  to 
the  homely  commonplaces  of  life.  Whatever  this 
state  of  exceptional  feeling  be  called — and  it  bears 
many  names  among  the  sons  of  men, — its  memory 
retains  to  the  end  of  our  lives  something  of  the 
fantastic  unreality,  yet  strange  distinctness,  of  a 
vision.  Some  scenes  are  fixed  in  our  minds  like 
paintings,  which  nothing  can  efface.  Over  our 
remembrance  of  some  faces  we  are  sure  that  the 

(125) 


126  A   LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARC  AD  Y. 

very  waters  of  the  Deluge  might  pass  and  leave 
them  unharmed. 

Alan  Cameron  felt  that  he  "  walked  as  one  in  a 
dream,"  when,  after  the  lapse  of  seven  years,  he 
found  himself  again  among  the  green  mountains 
where  his  youth  had  been  spent.  From  the  win- 
dows of  the  railroad  train  that  was  working  its 
way  steadily  but  (for  a  railroad  train)  slowly 
around  the  mountain — the  engine  wheezing  and 
panting  and  groaning  up  the  heavy  grades — he 
caught  more  than  one  glimpse  of  the  loveliness  of 
that  "  Happy  Valley  "  in  which  the  old  house  still 
stood,  though  now  deserted.  How  clearly  the 
picture  was  in  his  mind — the  sweet  home  picture, 
softened  b}'  the  hand  of  time  into  idyllic  grace  ! 
Did  the  same  mellow  sunshine  fall  across  the  va- 
cant doorstep  and  stream  into  the  empty  rooms? 
Did  the  green  shade  still  droop  and  rustle  over  the 
old  mill  ?  And  the  mountain  trout,  did  they  still 
leap  and  dart  through  the  crystal  water  under  the 
rustic  bridge  ?  If  he  had  been  an  artist,  he  could 
have  painted  every  glint  and  glimmer,  every  shade 
and  sheen  of  the  scene  from  memory ;  he  could 
faithfully  have  laid  on  his  canvas  every  tint  of  the 
deep-green  foliage,  and  every  ray  of  the  sunlight 
that  flecked  it  with  gold  as  it  arched  over  the 
clear,  running  water ;  he  could  have  drawn  every 
vine  and  root  on  the  tangled  banks,  every  rock  of 
the  mountains  "  with  their  victor  wreaths  of 
laurel,"  every  vicissitude   of  light   and   shadow, 


A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   AECADY.  127 

every  combination  of  loveliness  and  grandeur 
which  made  the  beauty  of  the  unforgotten  pic- 
ture. 

As  it  all  rose  before  him,  flooded  with  the  fair 
light  of  memory,  the  laboring  engine  emerged 
suddenly  round  a  curve,  and  there  was  the  preci- 
pice which  shut  in  the  valley  on  one  side — seen 
from  this  elevation,  the  valley  itself  looked  like  a 
bit  of  Paradise ; — and  there  also,  far  below,  the 
spot  where  just  such  a  train  as  this  had  gone  down 
to  destruction.  "Mustn't  it  have  been  dread- 
ful?" said  a  young  lady  behind  Cameron;  while 
he,  leaning  out,  tried  to  bring  to  his  conception 
the  fathomless  horror  of  that  awful  minute,  so 
long  ago  swept  on  in  the  cycle  of  time.  But  un- 
consciously the  agony  and  death  faded  from  his 
remembrance ;  out  of  the  fearful  chaos  which 
fancy  pictured  a  pair  of  bright,  soft  eyes  looked 
up  at  him;  and,  as  it  chanced,  he  had  just  then 
one  glimpse — a  brief,  fleeting  glimpse — of  the 
home  where  those  eyes  had  smiled  many  smiles, 
and  wept  but  few  tears  during  childhood's  long, 
bright  years. 

"  What  toys  of  fate  or  chance  we  are  ! '  the 
young  man  thought,  as  he  drew  back.  "But  for 
that  accident — but  for  the  breaking  of  some  insig- 
nificant piece  of  iron  long  ago — I  should  never 
have  seen  Bernadette;  and  I  should  be  in  Scot- 
land now,  enjoying  life  perhaps  with  a  flaxen-haired 


128  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

lassie,  instead  of  hastening  to  meet  a  disappoint- 
ment which  may  hurt  me  more  than  I  think." 

"We  have  almost  reached  the  Springs,  haven't 
we,  Cameron  ?  "  asked  a  young  man  in  a  traveling- 
cap,  who  w^as  doubled  up  on  a  seat  in  front. 

"  Very  near  it,  I  should  think,"  replied  Cam- 
eron,— "  only  one  more  station,  I  believe.  I  hope 
they'll  give  us  a  decent  place  to  turn  in,"  he  went 
on,  with  a  yawn.  "  I'm  a  good  traveler,  as  trav- 
elers go " 

"  You  wouldn't  be  a  civil  engineer  if  you 
weren't,"  said  the  other,  in  parenthesis. 

"  But  still  a  through  trip  from  Montana  has  used 
me  up  a  little." 

"  Randolph  is  there  ;  he  promised  to  look  after 
a  place  for  me,"  said  the  other,  lazily.  "  If  it's 
very  good,  I'll  let  you  share  it  perhaps." 

"  I  don't  think  you'll  have  much  choice  about 
that,"  said  Cameron,  dryly.  "  Being  bachelors, 
we  are  the  recognized  victims  of  landlords  and 
housekeepers  the  world  over,  and  liable  to  be 
quartered  with  a  dozen  others  as  ill-used  as  our- 
selves. It's  Kirk  Randolph  you  mean,  isn't  it?  " 
he  continued,  with  an  abrupt  transition.  "  He 
was  in  our  corps  for  awhile  ;  but  he  was  either  in 
love  or  he  couldn't  stand  the  climate  ,  whichever 
was  the  case,  he  threw  up  his  position  and  left." 

"  Just  like  him  !  "  said  the  other,  sleepily.  "  He 
alwa}-s  is  doing  something  like  that." 

"  He  was  a  capital  fellow,  though." 


A   LITTLE   MAID   OF  AUCADY.  129 

"  Yes,  capital." 

The  somnolent  tendencies  of  the  speaker  were 
so  evident  that  Cameron  did  not  press  the  conver- 
sation beyond  this  point ;  in  fact,  he  was  in  no 
mood  for  talking.  The  gossip  of  that  professional 
world  to  which  he  himself  and  his  companion  be- 
longed, and  with  which,  of  course,  he  was  con- 
versant, jarred  on  him  just  then.  Of  the 
gossip  of  that  little-great  world  called  society- 
he  knew  nothing.  He  did  not  even  care  to  read 
the  paper  thrown  carelessly  by  on  the  seat.  He 
was  thinking — dreaming — dwelling.  Was  it  in  the 
past  or  the  future  y  Whichever  it  was,  a  pair  of 
soft,  dark  eyes  gazed  into  his  own  ;  and  above  the 
clatter  of  the  railroad  machinery  he  seemed  to  hear 
the  rush  of  the  old  mill-wheel,  and  to  catch  the 
tone  of  his  father's  slow,  quiet  voice  as,  pointing 
out  the  white  foam  to  a  pair#of  eager  children,  he 
said,  "Take  heed:  the  mill  will  never  grind  again 
with  the  water  that  is  past." 

The  mill  of  time  ground  with  some  very  disa- 
greeable water  to  Cameron  that  afternoon.  They 
reached  their  destination  about  four  o'clock,  and 
he  thought  it  necessary  to  "  turn  in,"  as  he  had 
threatened  ;  and  this  turning  in  proved  a  very  un- 
satisfactory business,  He  was  in  a  state  of  exas- 
peration when  he  came  forth  at  dusk  from  a  den 
which  measured  six  feet  by  six,  where  he  had  been 
endeavoring  to  make  up  for  lost  time  in  the  way 
of  sleep. 
9 


130  A   LITTLE  MAID   OF   AECADY. 

"  I'll  camp  out  with  a  blanket  on  the  mountain 
to-night,"  he  said  to  Randolph,  as  they  took  their 
way  to  the  hotel.  "  A  man  can't  stand  every  - 
thing!  Even  a  camel's  hump  breaks  after  a  while, 
I  believe." 

"  But  you're  not  a  camel,  nor  yet  a  dromedary," 
returned  Randolph,  laughing. 

Like  a  great  many  men  of  active  life  and  pro- 
fessional habits,  Cameron  knew  very  little  of 
women,  and  was  rather  shy  of  their  society. 
There  was  nothing  which  inspired  him  with  such 
an  ignominious  desire  to  retreat  as  the  rustle  of  a 
feminine  skirt.  When,  therefore,  Randolph  and 
he  sauntered  down  to  the  brilliantly  lighted  ball- 
room, he  declined  to  enter,  but  stood  at  one  of  the 
large,  open  windows  which  "gave  "  on  the  gallery, 
looking  in  at  "  the  dancers  dancing  in  tune." 

"  I  don't  dance,"  he  said  to  his  companion ; 
"and  the  atmosphere  in  there  must  be  at  fever 
heat.  Are  you  impatient  to  be  in  the  whirl,  or 
can  you  spare  five  minutes  to  tell  me  who  the 
people  are  ?  " 

"  I'm  not  impatient  in  the  least,  and  I  can  spare 
you  as  many  minutes  as  you  want,"  said  Randolph. 
"  You're  right  about  the  atmosphere  being  at  fever 
heat  in  there ;  and  this  tread-mill,  called  prom- 
enading, is  tiresome  work.  Here  they  all  come, 
circling  round  in  it !  Now  we'll  see  the  fixed  stars 
and  comets  in  all  their  glory." 

From  the  window  against  which  they  were  lean- 


A   LITTLE   MAID    OF    AECADY.  131 

ing  they  commanded  a  good  view  of  the  thronged 
interior,  where  all  the  fashion  of  this  miniature 
world  was  revolving  before  them,  showing  its  best 
plumes  and  best  faces,  and  now  and  then  making 
a  very  sorry  out  at  the  stage-deception  which  was 
its  business  and  aim. 

"  There  goes  one  of  the  beauties  par  excellence" 
said  Randolph,  after  a  pause — "  that  willowy  girl 
with  bony  shoulders  and  a  lace  flounce  worth  its 
weight  in  gold  (so  I  heard  some  old  ladies  say) 
sweeping  the  floor.  Unnecessary  to  add  that  she 
is  an  heiress,  isn't  it?  " 

"  On  the  contrary,  very  necessary  to  her  reputa- 
tion as  a  beauty,  I  should  think,"  replied  Cameron, 
dryly. 

"  Then  here  comes  a  young  lad}r  who,  laboring 
under  the  double  disadvantage  of  being  neither 
an  heiress  nor  a  beauty,  yet  having  a  soul  above 
mediocrity  and  wall-flowers,  has  set  up  for  a 
siren.  Her  capital  in  trade  is  very  small,  yet  it 
has  proved  sufficient  for  her  needs  so  far.  Lock 
at  her,  my  dear  boy,  as  she  passes,  and  tell  me 
what  you  think  of  her." 

"  I  think  she  is  the  embodiment  of  affectation, " 
said  Cameron,  glancing  coolly  and  rather  disdain- 
fully at  the  young  lady  indicated — a  sufficiently 
ordinary-looking  girl,  who  passed  slowly  b}',  lean- 
ing heavily  with  both  hands  on  her^  attendant's 
arm,  while  a  pair  of  Madonna  eyes  were  turned, 
as  if  with  intent  rapture,  to  his  face. 


132  A   LITTLE   MAID    OF   ARCADY. 

"  That  glance,  taken  in  conjunction  with  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  flattery,  works  wonders,"  said  Ran- 
dolph, laughing.  "  The  person  subjected  to  its  in- 
fluence goes  away  calling  gods  and  men  to  witness 
that  she  is  a  veritable  sorceress.  But  here  comes 
a  sorceress  of  a  different  stamp,"  said  he,  sud- 
denly changing  the  tone  of  his  voice.  "  Look  at 
this  girl  in  black  and  silver,  with  golden  hair  ! 
Did  you  ever  see  a  lovelier  face  ?  " 

"  It  is  very  lovely,"  said  Cameron,  with  evident 
candor.     "  What  is  her  name?" 

"Miss  Chesselton.  The  most  charming  and 
captivating  little  creature  !  Her  face  is  like  a 
sunbeam,  isn't  it?  She  has  a  cousin  who  is  quite 
beautiful  too,  but  in  a  different  style.  They  make 
an  exquisite  pair  when  you  see  them  together ; 
for  each  sets  the  other  off  to  the  greatest  advan- 
tage." 

"  And  the  cousin " 

"  Is  Miss  Arnaud — engaged,  it  is  said,  to  Ridge- 
ley  Chesselton,  this  young  lady's  brother.  Here 
she  comes  now.  By  Jove,  it  is  hard  to  tell  which 
of  the  two  is  the  prettier  !  " 

It  was  not  hard  to  the  eager  eyes  that  after 
seven  long  years  gazed  again — through  the  very 
ball-room  window  at  which  they  two  had  stood 
together  as  children— at  the  sweet  face  of  her 
who  had  been  then  not  "  Miss  Arnaud,"  but 
"little  Bernadette."  It  was  the  same  face,  which 
he    well    remembered, — older,    of  course,  lovelier 


A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARCADY.  133 

perhaps,  but  full  of  the  same  gracious  charm,  the 
winning,  child-like  sweetness  of  old.  As  she 
passed,  the  bright,  dark  eyes  lifted  themselves  to  her 
companion's  face,  the  delicate  flexile  lips  stirred 
into  a  smile.  Alan  Cameron  gave  something  of 
a  gasp,  whether  of  grief  or  pain  it  was  impossi- 
ble to  say,  when  he  saw  how  little  time  had 
changed  her.  Seven  years — seven  years  since  her 
departure  had  left  their  home  desolate,  and  in  all 
that  time  this  was  the  first  glimpse  of  her  face 
which  had  gladdened  his  sight !  True,  he  might 
have  seen  her  if  he  had  chosen  to  go  and  seek 
her  where  she  dwelt ;  but  this  was  what  he  did 
not  choose  to  do.  "  I'll  bide  my  time,"  he  had 
said  from  the  first,  with  the  steady  tenacity  of 
his  tenacious  race;  certain  that  the  time  would 
come  when  he  might  claim  her  remembrance,  sure 
that  there  was  naught  in  himself  or  his  surround- 
ings to  shame  her. 

When,  with  his  parents,  he  had  returned  to 
Scotland,  the  elder  Cameron,  who  wTas  well-to-do 
in  a  quiet,  substantial  way,  decided  that  Alan 
should  have  his  wish  and  receive  a  professional 
education.  So  the  boy  applied  himself  to  the 
study  of  engineering  in  all  its  branches,  with  an 
intensity  of  aim  and  purpose  which  speedily 
atoned  for  any  lack  of  earlier  advantages.  He 
possessed  a  remarkable  aptitude  for  work,  and  a 
talent  which  distinguishes  many  of  his  country- 
men for  this  special  branch  of  science  ;  in  conse- 


134  A   LITTLE   MAID   OF    ARCADY. 

quence  of  which,  when  he  returned  to  America  at 
the  end  of  five  years  (for  that  he  had  always  avowed 
his  determination  to  do),  he  brought  with  him 
testimonials  that  at  once  secured  for  him  the  open- 
ing which  was  all  he  desired.  But  he  did  not  seek 
Bernadette.  On  the  contrary,  he  turned  his  face 
resolutely  westward,  and  worked  for  two  years, 
steadily  and  perse veringly,  before  he  would  per- 
mit himself  the  pleasure  of  meeting  her.  And  it 
was  significant,  of  the  pride  which  is  always 
strong  in  a  Highlander  that  he  preferred  even 
then  to  see  her  not  in  her  home,  where  he  should 
have  had  to  accept  the  hospitality  of  her  relatives, 
but  on  the  neutral  ground  of  a  watering-place. 
Hearing  that  she  was  to  be  with  her  grandfather 
at  the  Springs,  which  were  in  the  neighborhood 
of  their  old  home,  he  at  once  determined  to  see  her 
there  ;  and,  taking  a  month's  leave  of  absence  from 
his  work,  traveled  across  the  continent  without 
pause  or  rest,  until  to-night  he  found  himself 
looking  once  more  on  her  face. 

But  the  desired  result  of  these  seven  years  of 
unceasing  labor  had  been  attained.  As  he  leaned 
against  the  ball-room  window  that  summer  night, 
Alan  Cameron  might  safely  have  challenged  com- 
parison with  any  of  the  gay  cavaliers  of  the  scene 
before  him,  and  not  esteemed  the  comparison  an 
over-fair  one  either;  since  it  is  by  no  means  the 
most  cultured  or  most  intelligent  class  of  men 
who,  as  a    general   rule,  frequent   watering-place 


A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARCADY.  135 

resorts.  Intelligent  the  young  Scotchman  as- 
suredly was,  as  the  bright  blue  eyes — very 
keen  and  critical  eyes  they  could  be  some- 
times— abundantly  testified  ;  together  with  the 
broad,  clear  brow,  framed  by  short  curls  of  flaxen 
hair.  Cultured  he  also  was  in  no  inconsiderable 
degree,  as  air  and  manner  amply  proved ;  though 
now  and  then  a  Scotch  expression  or  Scotch  accent 
betrayed  early  habit,  and  lent  force  if  not  elegance 
to  his  speech.  Generally,  however,  there  was 
little  to  betray  the  laborious  school  through 
which  he  had  passed, — a  school  not  less  of  severe 
effort  than  of  rigid  self-training. 

"Do  you  know  Miss  Arnaud?'  he  asked,  as 
Randolph  drew  back  from  a  conversation  which  he 
had  been  holding  through  the  window  with  some 
one  inside  the  room. 

"  I  know  her  well  enough  to  ask  leave  to  pre- 
sent a  friend,"  said  the  other.  "I  suppose  that  is 
what  }ro u  mean  ?  ' 

"  That's  exactly  what  I  mean,"  answered  Cam- 
eron, smiling.  "  I  saw  her  leave  the  ball-room  a 
few  minutes  after  you  pointed  her  out,"  he  went 
on.  "  Don't  you  think  we  might  find  her  on  the 
gallery  or  in  the  parlor?  If  possible,  I  would 
rather  not  go  into  this  crowd." 

"  All  right,"  said  Randolph,  good-naturedly. 
"  We  can  look  for  her  at  least." 

They  walked  slowly  around  the  gallery  which 
in  the  neighborhood  of  the  ball-room  was  crowded 


136  A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARC  AD  Y. 

with  gazers  and  nondancers.  It  was  a  famous 
place  for  flirtation  too,  and  they  discovered  so 
many  couples  in  nooks  and  corners  that  to  search 
for  any  particular  woman  was  like  looking  for  the 
traditional  needle  in  a  haystack. 

"  Whom  was  she  with  ? "  asked  Randolph. 
" Earnesforth,  wasn't  it?  If  1  could  only  see  him 
— ah,  here  comes  the  very  fellow  now !  Hal, 
what  has  become  of  Miss  Arnaucl?  We  have 
been  looking  for  her  high  and  low." 

"  You'll  find  her  in  the  parlor  with  her  grand- 
father," answered  the  other  ;  "  she  said  she  was 
tired  of  dancing.  Don't  keep  me,  my  good  fel- 
low.Tve  an  engagement." 

He  vanished  like  a  meteor,  while  Randolph 
shruggerd  his  shoulders. 

"  How  dancing-mad  some  of  these  fools  are ! ' 
he  said.     "  This  way, — this  is  the  way  to  the  par- 
lor." 

They  passed  down  a  corridor,  and  entered  a 
large  room  with  scattered  groups  of  people — 
chiefly  elders — around  the  tables  and  about  the 
sofas.  As  it  chanced  Bernadette  was  the  first 
person  whom  they  saw  on  entering.  She  was 
sitting  just  opposite  the  door,  her  dark  head  and 
glowing  face  outlined  like  a  lovely  picture  against 
the  white  wall  behind  her. 

"  If  you'll  stay  here  a  minute,  I'll  speak  to  her," 
said  Randolph  to  his  companion. 

But,  to  his  surprise,  Cameron  answered  coolly, 


A   LITTLE   MAID    OF    ARCADY.  137 

"  T  scarcely  think  that  necessary,"  and  crossed  the 
room  by  his  side.  Randolph  gave  him  a  glance 
compounded  of  surprise  and  vexation  ;  but,  hav- 
ing no  other  resource,  he  put  a  good  face  on  the 
matter,  and  drew  him  forward  when  they  reached 
Bernadette. 

"  Miss  Arnaud,"  he  said,  "  if  }tou  will  allow  me, 
I  should  like  to  present  a  friend  of  mine,  who — " 

Here,  to  his  utter  amazement,  his  speech  was 
cut  short.  Turning  her  dark  eyes  from  himself  to 
the  friend  in  question,  Miss  Arnaud  suddenly  gave 
a  cry,  and  sprang  to  her  feet  with  both  hands  ex- 
tended. 

"  Alan  !  "  she  exclaimed,  in  a  tone  that  rang 
clearly  through  the  whole  room, — "  O  my  dear, 
dear  Alan  !  what  a  happiness  this  is  !  " 

It  was  so  frankly,  truly,  and  sweetly  spoken 
that  the  most  suspicious  man  on  earth  could  not 
have  doubted  or  held  back  from  such  a  welcome. 


CHAPTER  II. 

"  O  Alan,  you  bad,  bad  boy!'  said  Berna- 
dette, with  glowing  eyes.  "  Tell  me  all  about 
yourself,  and  what  you  have  been  doing  this  long 
while." 

She  spoke  thus  after  the  first  shock  of  unex- 
pected meeting  was  over ;  after  the  first  inarticu- 
late words  between  tears  and  laughter  had  been 
spent;  after  she  had  taken  him  triumphantly  to 
her  grandfather,  who  received  him  cordially  ;  and 
after  she  had  then  brought  him  back  to  an  un- 
occupied sofa  and  bade  him  consider  himself  her 
captive  for  the  evening. 

Never  was  captive  more  resigned  to  slavery 
than  Alan,  as  he  looked  at  the  tender  lights  chas- 
ing one  another  over  the  winsome  face  which  had 
been  absent  from  his  sight  so  long.  The  aroma 
of  elegance  and  wealth  about  her  did  not  daunt 
him  as  he  had  sometimes  feared  it  might.  She 
was  as  ever  a  fairy  princess,  whom  every  adorn- 
ment of  art  and  luxury  became  well ;  but  she  was 
also  his  Bernadette, — no  young  lady  fashioned 
after  cut-and-dried  models,  but  the  same  gentle 
maiden,  with  the  same  innocent  smile  and  the 
same  frank,  tender  eyes  he  knew  so  well. 

"  Bernadette  ! '  he  cried,  incredulous  almost  of 
(138) 


A   LITTLE   MAID   OF   AKCADY.  139 

what  he  saw,  "  how  is  it  that  you  have  kept  so 
like  what  you  were?  I  should  have  known  you 
anywhere  in  the  world.  You  are  the  same — the 
very  same,  almost — that  you  used  to  be  ! ' 

"  Am  I  ?  "  said  Bernadette,  looking  up  at  him 
with  her  soft,  dark  eyes.  "I  am  glad  of  that, 
Alan, — very  glad.  But  you  are  changed— oh,  so 
much!  What  have  you  been  doing  to  your- 
self?" 

"  Only  growing  into  a  man,  dear,"  -answered 
Alan,  smiling.  "  Seven  years — ah,  Bernadette, 
seven  long  years — might  well  change  both  of 
us!" 

"  But  vou  acknowledge  that  I  am  not  changed." 

"  Only  by  having  grown  into  a  peri,"  said  he, 
smiling  as  he  glanced  from  her  fair  face  to  the 
fresh  ball  dress,  and  neck  and  arms  white  and 
dazzling  as  satin. 

After  this  he  told  her  all  the  events  of  the  past 
seven  years, — all  the  study  and  labor  which  had 
brought  about  the  change  she  saw  in  himself. 
She  was  full  of  inquiries  about  this,  and  after  a 
while  about  the  old  home.  She  seemed  disap- 
pointed to  hear  that  he  had  not  seen  the  latter 
since  that  autumn  in  which  she  left. 

"  What  would  have  taken  me  back  ?  "  he  asked. 
"We  could  none  of  us  bear  the  place  after  you 
were  gone.  This  is  the  first  time  I  have  been 
near  it  since  we  went  away.  But  it  was  a  good 
move  for  father  and  mother,"  he  added.     "They 


140  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

are  much  happier  in  the  old  country,  among  their 
friends  and  kindred.  I  could  never  have  left 
them  had  they  stayed  here." 

"  I  wonder  you  can  leave  them  now,"  said 
Bernadette.  "  They  must  be  lonely — poor  father 
and  mother  ! — without  either  of  us.  And  how  is 
it  you  do  not  prefer  to  live  in  Scotland  ?  Do  you 
remember  all  our  childish  dreams  and  plans  of 
going  there  when  we  grew  up  ?  " 

"  The  old  country  is  very  beautiful,"  said  Alan, 
"  and  full  of  attractions  of  all  kinds.  But  it  is 
made  for  the  rich.  America  is  the  best  place  to 
work.     For  that  reason  I  came  back." 

"  And,  oh,  I  am  so  proud  of  you,  Alan, — so 
proud  of  all  you  have  done!"  cried  Bernadette, 
with  shining  eyes.  "  Tell  me  all  about  your 
work." 

He  told  her  something  of  it,  growing  animated 
over  the  particulars  she  demanded.  There  was  so 
much  of  which  to  talk,  and  Bernadette  was  so 
unaffectedly  happy  in  his  society,  that  it  was  no 
wonder  he  forgot  time  and  circumstance,  until  at 
last  a  slender,  handsome  man — in  age  apparent^ 
about  thirty — entered  the  room,  and,  after  glancing 
round  for  a  moment,  sauntered  up  to  them. 

"  I  have  been  looking  for  you  everywhere, 
Bernadette,"  he  said.  "  Why  are  you  not  dancing 
to-night  ?  " 

The  familiar  address  made  Cameron  glance  up 
with  surprise, — a  surprise  which  was  met  by  the 


A   LITTLE   MAID    OF   ARCADY.  141 

steady   stare    of  a   pair   of  gray  eyes,  evidently 
regarding  him  with  curiosity. 

"  I  see  that  you  haven't  heard  the  news,  Ridge- 
ley,"  said  Bernadette,  gayly.  "  You  don't  know 
that  this  is  my  brother,  my  dear  brother,  Alan 
Cameron.  And  this,  Alan,"  turning  to  him,  "is 
my  cousin,  Ridgeley  Chesselton — the  same  who 
found  me,"  she  added,  laughing. 

As  may  be  readily  imagined,  this  fact  was  any- 
thing but  a  claim  on  Alan's  gratitude  or  a  pass- 
port to  his  regard.  The  two  young  men  shook 
hands,  and  Mr.  Chesselton  said  a  few  words  of 
well-bred  commonplace,  expressive  of  his  pleas- 
ure ;  but  there  was  a  sort  of  veiled  dislike  in  the 
manner  of  each,  not  remarkable  perhaps,  consider- 
ing their  respective  positions.  Of  the  two  Cam- 
eron showed  this  feeling  the  more  plainly,  but 
Chesselton  felt  it  more  strongly.  "  Confound  the 
fellow's  impudence  !  "  he  thought.  "  The  idea  of 
his  coming  and  forcing  himself  on  Bernadette  at 
such  a  time  and  in  such  a  place  as  this !  Her 
brother  indeed  !  " 

"I  am  glad  to  meet  Mr.  Cameron,"  he  said 
aloud,  quite  formally.  "  We  can  none  of  us  for- 
get the  obligation  we  owe  to  his  parents." 

Then,  probably  by  way  of  proving  his  sense  of 
this  obligation,  he  sat  down  on  the  other  side  of 
Bernadette  and  began  talking  of  something  that 
he  had  just  heard — some  bit  of  watering-place 
gossip, — which   at  another  time  he   would   quite 


142  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF  ARCADY. 

have  scorned,  but  which  served  his  purpose  very 
well  just  now.  Bernadette  listened  because  she 
was  interested  ;  but  she  soon  woke  to  a  knowledge 
of  the  incivility  of  the  proceeding,  when  turning 
she  saw  Cameron's  absent  face. 

"  Oh,  I  forgot  that  you  don't  know  anything 
about  these  people  ! '  she  said,  with  a  glance  of 
rebuke  at  her  cousin.  "We  must  introduce  you 
into  society,  Alan.  Poor  fellow !  having  worked 
so  hard,  you  certainly  need  recreation  ;  and  this 
is  the  place  for  it, — isn't  it,  Ridgeley  ?  Suppose 
you  come  now  and  let  me  present  }'ou  to  Aunt 
Alice  and  Fay  ?     I  should  like  you  to  know  them." 

She  rose  in  her  winning  way;  and  Alan,  who 
would  have  gone  with  her  to  the  ends  of  the  earth, 
rose  too  and  offered  his  arm.  Ten  minutes  before 
he  would  have  said,  "  I  only  came  here  to  see  you, 
and  I  don't  care  in  the  least  to  meet  anybody 
else."  But  it  was  impossible  to  say  that  with 
Chesselton  sitting  b}r ;  and,  in  fact,  he  lost  all 
inclination  to  say  it  now.  The  golden  hour  in 
which  he  had  found  his  old  playmate  was  passed, 
and  within  these  few  minutes  he  had  realized  the 
immeasurable  distance  which  separated  them.  It 
was  not  so  much  the  supercilious  conduct  of  Ches- 
selton which  brought  the  realization  home  to  him 
as  a  faint  glimpse  of  the  world  in  which  Berna- 
dette lived.  Poor  fellow  !  he  knew,  as  by  a  flash 
of  inspiration,  what  a  chimera  he  had  followed 
through  all  these  seven  years  of  Jacob-like  faith- 


A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY.  143 

fulness  ;  and,  like  all  first  fruits  of  the  tree  of  good 
and  evil,  this  knowledge  was  very  bitter. 

But  it  was  part  of  the  dream  in  which  he  was 
moving  to  go  to  the  ball-room  with  Bernadette,  to 
hear  the  rustle  of  her  silken  train,  to  see  the  dark 
curls  droop  on  her  shoulders,  to  watch  the  little 
white-gloved  hand  lying  like  a  bit  of  carved  ivory 
on  his  coat-sleeve,  and  to  be  unable  to  realize  that 
it  was  the  same  hand  which  had  once  fed  the 
chickens  and  searched  for  the  eggs,  and  tumbled 
the  sweet-smelling  hay  over  him  in  the  meadow. 
He  felt  puzzled  and  tantalized  as  by  an  unreality. 
She  was  Bernadette — vet  not  Bernadette.  The 
same  as  of  old — yet  how  different  from  the  same  ! 
She  was  his  Bernadette  when  she  looked  up  at 
him  with  her  soft,  bright  eyes,  and  called  him 
"  Alan  "  ;  but  she  was  a  fair,  gracious,  polished 
girl,  full  of  social  ease  and  tact,  when  other  men 
thronged  round  her ;  and  Cameron  felt  with  a  sort 
of  despair  that  he  might  as  well  be  in  Scotland  for 
all  the  part  he  played  in  this  life  of  hers.  Still, 
again,  it  was  like  a  dream  when  he  sat  by  Mrs. 
Chesselton's  side,  listening  to  her  gentle  stream  of 
conversation,  and  astonishing  as  well  as  pleasing 
her  by  the  grave,  quiet  courtesy  of  his  manner ; 
while  Bernadette's  white  dress  went  by  now  and 
then  in  the  circling  whirl  of  the  dance,  or  Miss 
Chesselton  came  to  her  chaperon  for  a  few  min- 
utes' rest,  and  while  gazing  at  him  with  quick  gray 
eyes  like  her  brother's — wondering  eyes  they  were 


144  A   LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

to  find  Bernadette's  foster-brother  like  this — chat- 
tered her  pretty  high-bred  nonsense,  which,  in  spite 
of  its  beiug  nonsense,  was  not  vapid  or  silly. 

"  What  has  become  of  Ridgeley?" she  asked  her 
mother  on  one  of  these  occasions.  "  Has  Berna- 
dette  flirted  with  anybody  or  done  anything  else 
dreadful  that  he  has  gone  off  to  sulk?  I'm  posi- 
tive he  has  not  been  in  the  ball-room  this  evening." 

"  Ridgeley  is  not  very  fond  of  the  ball-room,  as 
you  know,  Fay,"  answered  Mrs.  Chesselton, 
quietly .  "  I  think  Bernadette  said  she  left  him  in 
the  parlor.     If  you  want  him " 

"I'm  not  likely  to  want  him,"  said  Miss  Ches- 
selton, with  a  shrug  of  her  polished  shoulders. 
"Do  you  dance,  Mr.  Cameron?'  she  went  on, 
looking  up  at  the  quiet,  bronzed  stranger,  and 
asking  the  question  with  the  frank  ease  of  one 
who  was  above  the  suspicion  of  needing  a  partner. 
"  I  have  never  tried  being  a  wall-flower,  but  I 
can't  help  thinking  that  it  must  be  very  stupid 
work." 

"It  has  its  advantages,"  said  Cameron,  smiling, 
as  he  leaned  over  the  back  of  the  young  beauty's 
chair  and  regarded  at  his  ease  the  wonderful 
arrangement  of  her  golden  coiffure.  "  Being  a 
spectator,  one  sees  more  of  the  play  than  the 
actors  do,  you  know." 

"  And  is  a  ball-room  like  a  play  to  you  ? ' 

"  I  ma}r  say  that  it  is  much  better." 

"  But  why  ?  '    asked  she,  with  naive  curiosity. 


A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY.  145 

"  What  do  you  see  here,  for  instance,  besides  men 
and  women  ?  " 

"  What  do  you  see  on  any  stage  besides  men 
and  women  ?  " 

"  You  see  tragedy  and  comedy  on  the  real  stage." 
"And  is  there  no  tragedy  or  comedy  here  ?' 
"  Comedy  enough,   Heaven   knows  ! '     she    an- 
swered. 

"  And  tragedy,  trust  me  !  "  added  Cameron,  in 
a  half  pathetic  voice, — a  voice  which  surprised 
himself  and  made  him  laugh  ;  for  he  was  a  genial 
fellow  in  general,  and  little  given  to  reflections  on 
the  darker  side  of  life.  "  You'd  think,  Miss  Ches- 
selton — I  scarcely  know  what  you  would  think, 
— if  I  told  }7ou  all  I  find  here,"  he  went  on,  after 
a  minute.  "  You  see,  I  know  so  little  about 
scenes  and  places  of  this  kind.  They  are  strange 
to  me  ;  for  my  life  has  been  a  laborious  one  from 
the  beginning,  and  it  is  only  very  lately  that  I 
have  been  able  to  command  any  entrance  into  the 
holiday  world  called  good  society." 

"  I  am  sure  you  are  capable  of  obtaining  many 
things  much  more  substantial,"  said  Fay,  looking 
at  him  with  bright  eyes,  full  of  sympathy  for 
the  candor  of  his  speech.  "  Good  society  counts 
a  great  deal  of  foolish  society  within  its  fold,"  she 
added,  laughing.  "  I  have  been  in  it  more  or  less 
all  my  life,  and  sometimes  it  bores  me  excessively. 
Sometimes  I  have  felt  as  if  I  would  give  anything 
10 


146  A   LITTLE   MAID   OF   AECADY. 

to  meet  with  some  one  who  had  a  little  freshness 
—a  little—" 

"  Fay,  Colonel  Lester  is  trying  to  speak  to  you," 
said  Mrs.  Chesselton  just  here. 

Colonel  Lester  proved  to  be  an  ill-used  partner, 
who  had  come  to  claim  his  rights ;  and  although 
Miss  Chesselton  stoutly  disputed  them — for  she 
had  taken  a  fancy  to  talk  to  Alan  just  then, — he 
proved  the  justice  of  his  claim  so  conclusively 
bv  her  own  ball-book  that  she  was  forced  to  sue- 
cumb. 

Perceiving  no  hope  of  a  word  or  glance  from 
Bernadette,  who  was  closely  begirt  by  admirers, 
Cameron  then  bade  Mrs.  Chesselton  good-night, 
acknowledging  courteously  her  desire  to  see  him 
again,  and  went  his  way. 

Bright  and  sweet  as  one  portion  of  the  evening 
had  been — brighter  and  sweeter  almost  than  he 
had  dared  to  hope, — its  close  brought  such  a  sense 
of  disappointment  that  he  forgot  to  quarrel  with 
his  miserable  little  den  when  he  turned  into  it. 


CHAPTER  III. 

After  breakfast  next  morning,  Cameron  was 
standing  in  one  of  the  open  doors  of  the  large  par- 
lor, watching  the  throng  of  people  who  filled  it, 
with  the  absent  look  of  one  to  whom  they  were 
all  alike  strange  and  indifferent,  when,  much  to 
his  surprise,  Ridgeley  Chesselton  approached,  say- 
ing, after  the  first  brief  interchange  of  saluta- 
tions, "  I  am  very  glad  to  meet  you,  Mr.  Cameron. 
My  cousin  sent  me  in  search  of  you  some  time 
ago  ;  but  it  is  so  hard  to  find  any  particular  per- 
son in  this  crowd  that  I  had  almost  resigned  all 
hope  of  success,  and  expected  to  go  back  to  her 
with  empt}'  hands.  Are  you  engaged,  or  can  you 
come    with    me  ?     She    is    very    anxious    to    see 

you." 

Alan  replied  that  he  was  not  engaged — a  fact 
Avhich  indeed  was  sufficiently  evident, — and  that 
he  would  willingly  obey  the  summons.  They 
passed,  therefore,  through  the  crowded  room  and 
stepped  out  on  a  long  gallery,  or  piazza,  running 
the  whole  length  of  the  house.  The  view  from 
here  was  enchanting.  The  lovely  valley  was 
dimpled  with  a  thousand  lights  and  shadows  in  the 
sparkling  sunlight  of  the  early  summer  morning; 
the  lawn  immediately  in  front  of  the  house,  with 

(147) 


148  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

its  green  turf  and  spreading  shade,  was  bright- 
ened by  a  glitter  of  well-dressed  ladies,  children, 
nurses,  groups  of  people,  reading,  talking,  and  flirt- 
ing. The  magnificent  mountains  were  bathed  to 
their  very  summits  in  golden  light ;  the  air  seemed 
to  sparkle  like  crystal ;  and  not  the  least  part  of 
the  beauty  rested  for  Cameron  in  the  sweet  face, 
wuth  its  wealth  of  sun- kissed  hair  and  liquid  dark 
eyes,  which  greeted  him  with  such  a  bright  smile. 

He  found  the  whole  Ridgeley  connection  out  in 
force.  Mr.  Ridgeley  in  his  easy-chair,  with  his 
crutches  beside  him — seven  years  had  not  im- 
proved his  gout;  Mrs.  Chesselton  reading  the 
morning  papers;  Fay  and  Bernadette  surrounded 
by  a  staff  of  admirers. 

"  You  are  a  truant  and  a  recreant,  and — and 
any  other  bad  name  you  choose,"  said  the  latter, 
looking  up  as  he  stopped  beside  her  chair.  "  You 
went  away  without  even  bidding  me  good-night, 
and  you  have  not  come  near  me  this  morning  un- 
til I  absolutely  was  obliged  to  send  for  you." 

"  I  thought  you  were  too  busy  to  miss  me  last 
night,"  he  said  ;  "  and  as  for  this  morning,  I  have 
been  looking  for  you  in  every  direction." 

"You  will  generally  find  us  here  after  break- 
fast. Fay  and  I  agree  with  grandpapa  in  detest- 
ing that  crowded  parlor." 

"  And  how  long  do  you  usually  stay  here  ?  " 

"Until  something  better  offers — until,  for  ex- 
ample, somebody  asks  me  to  go  to  walk." 


A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   AUG  AD  i\  149 

"Well,  suppose  somebody  should  ask  you 
now?" 

"I  would  answer  that  I  had  my  hat  and  my 
parasol  in  readiness,"  said  she,  lifting  the  first  on 
the  point  of  the  last,  and  shaking  them  gayly  be- 
fore him. 

"  Will  you  come  then,  or  is  it  the  thing  ?  You 
know  I  am  very  ignorant  of  social  manners  and 
customs." 

"It  is  certainly  'the  thing,'  answered  she, 
laughing.  "  Of  course  I  will  come.  I  have  so 
much  to  say  to  you  that  I  think  I  should  have 
asked  you  to  walk  if  you  had  not  asked  me." 

"Where  are  you  going,  Bernadette?"  said 
Mrs.  Chesselton,  looking  up  from  her  paper.  "Be 
sure  to  wear  your  veil,  dear.  This  sun  is  dreadful 
to  tan  the  complexion." 

That  was  all  the  notice  taken  of  them  as  they 
rose  and  left  the  group;  but  at  a  little  distance 
they  met  Ridgeiey,  who,  seeing  Bernadette  in 
readiness  for  a  walk,  looked  surprised  and  not  at 
all  pleased. 

"  Are  you  bound  for  the  cottage,  Bernadette?' 
he  asked,     "  If  so,  111  join  you.     I  was  just  think- 
ing of  turning  my  own  steps  in  that  direction." 

"  I  am  not  going  to  the  cottage,"  said  Berna- 
dette.    "  I  am  going  to  walk." 

"  Down  to  the  spring  ?  " 

"  No  :  round  the  mountain." 

"  You  forget  that  you  have  an  engagement — a 


150  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARC  AD  Y. 

positive  engagement — for  the  gerinan  this  morn- 


ing." 


.. 


You  are  very  kind  to  remember  my  positive 
engagements,"  said  she,  evidently  vexed ;  "  but  I 
shall  be  back  in  time  for  the  german.  Come, 
Alan." 

They  descended  the  steps  and  walked  some 
distance  before  either  spoke.  Then  Bernadette 
said,  petulantly : 

"  Riclgeley  is  such  a  trial !  I  am  often  ashamed 
of  losing  patience  with  him  ;  but  he  can  be  so  ex- 
ceedingly provoking  when  he  tries  !  He  thinks 
he  has  a  sort  of  right  of  surveillance  over  me,  yet 
Heaven  knows" — feelingly — "I  have  never  given 
it  to  him." 

"Perhaps  he  considers  himself  in  the  light  of 
your  discoverer,"  remarked  her  companion,  smil- 
ing, M  and  thinks  that  fact  gives  it  to  him." 

"  I  owe  him  no  gratitude  on  that  score,"  said 
she,  with  a  little  sigh.  "I  should  have  been 
better  and  no  doubt  happier  if  I  had  stayed  in  the 
old  home.     At  least  I  am  very  worldly  now." 

"Are  you?" 

"  Horribly  so  ! '  with  emphasis.  "  If  you  could 
know  how  fond  I  am  of  pleasure  and  admiration 
and  society,  }'ou  would  despise  me,  Alan." 

"  I  think  not,"  said  Alan,  gravely. 

"  I  am  afraid  you  would,"  insisted  Bernadette, 
who  evidently  had  a  fit  of  compunction  for  sins 
and   shortcomings  known  only  to  her  own  con- 


A  LITTLE   MAID   OP   ARCADY.  151 

science.  She  looked  so  pretty  and  pensive  as  she 
walked  along,  swinging  her  rose-lined  parasol 
against  her  skirt,  that  Alan  could  only  smile. 

"You  are  all  right,  Bernadette,"  said  he.  "If 
I  ever  doubted  it — if  I  ever  felt  disposed  to  think 
hardly  of  the  chance  that  took  you  from  us, — I 
should  see  my  mistake  now.  You  are  in  the  place 
to  which  you  were  born,  and  you  suit  it — just  as 
it  suits  you.  Not  like  the  other  place,"  said  he, 
with  a  sort  of  pathetic  ring  in  his  voice, — "  not 
like  the  other  place,  little  lassie  !  " 

"  Ah,  how  like  the  old  time  that  sounds  ! '  said 
she,  looking  up  at  him  with  a  quick  rush  of  tears 
in  her  dark  eyes. 

"It  does  not  do  to  think  overmuch  of  those  old 
times,"  said  he,  absently,  pulling  leaves  from  the 
bending  boughs  of  the  trees  that  arched  over 
them  as  they  strolled  slowly  along ;  "  at  least  not 
for  me.  I  would  not  change  things  if  I  could — 
no,  not  for  anything,  since  Fve  seen  you  living 
your  life  and  happy  in  it.  But  still  I  can't  help 
thinking  of  the  days  when  nobody  in  the  wide 
world  had  a  better  right  to  you  than — than  we 
had." 

"Who  has  a  better  right  now?'  asked  she 
quickly.  "Who  could  have  a  better  right  than 
those  but  for  whom  I  might  be  a  wretched  waif, 
astray  in  the  world,  at  this  time  ?  You  don't 
know  how  often  I  think  of  it,"  she  went  on, — 
"how   often   I   fancy   myself  again  the   desolate 


152  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   AKCADY. 

orphan  child,  and.  try  to  picture  what  would  have 
become  of  me  if  the  kind  hearts  that  took  me  in 
had  been  hardened  by  the  spirit  of  the  world  to 
let  me  go.  Then  what  tender  love  and  care  they 
gave  me  !  I  think  of  it  all  sometimes  until  my 
heart  seems  almost  bursting  with  gratitude." 

"  Hearts  should  not  burst  with  gratitude,"  said 
he,  smiling. 

"  It  is  with  thinking  how  good  you  all  were  to 
me,  and  how  I  can  never,  never  do  anything  to 
repay  you !  " 

"  We  ask  no  payment,"  he  answered,  almost 
sternly. 

"  There  is  none  possible,"  said  she  ;  "  and  so  I 
have  never  dreamed  of  it." 

"  Yes,  there  is  one  possible,"  said  he  gently; 
'•and  that  you  have  given.  Your  heart  is  un- 
changed ;  and  how  glad  the}T  will  be  to  know  that, 
Bernadette,  I  can  not  tell  you." 

"  Of  course  my  heart  is  unchanged,"  said  she, 
almost  indignantly.  "  There  is  no  merit  in  that. 
I  should  be  a  wretch,  unfit  to  live,  if  I  could  for- 
get what  I  owe  them,  or  ever  cease  to  love  them. 
But  vou  would  not  praise  me,  Alan,"  she  added 
sadly,  "if  }Tou  knew  how  much  I  have  altered  in 
some  particulars.  I  promised  mother  before  we 
parted  that  I  would  always  be  a  Catholic,  and  I 
have  kept  that  promise  ;  for  I  never  have  been 
anything  else,  and  I  never  can  be  anything  else. 
But  I  am  a  very  poor  Catholic— the  poorest  I  think 


A   LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARC  AD  Y.  158 

that  could  be, — because  I  have  so  little  oppor- 
tunity, and,  alas !  so  little  inclination,  to  practise 
my  faith  as  I  know  I  ought.  O  Alan,  if  I  only 
loved  it  as  I  used  to  do  !  But  when  I  was  young, 
when  I  first  went  away  from  you  all,  there  were 
many  obstacles  thrown  in  the  way  of  my  practis- 
ing it ;  and  so  I  grew  careless,  and  now  the  world 
gives  me  no  time  to  think  of  such  things.  I  am 
in  a  constant  whirl,  at  home  and  abroad ;  and  I 
like  it  so  much  that  I  think  I  grow  more  worldly 
every  da}\" 

She  looked  up  at  him  with  sincerity  written  on 
her  face — the  same  sweet,  transparent  face  that  it 
had  been  in  her  childhood — and  in  her  large  dark 
eyes.  This  was  no  mea  culpa  uttered  for  effect ; 
no  confession  made  on  an  impulse,  to  be  forgotten 
the  next  moment.  Evidently  that  of  which  she 
spoke  had  lain  long  on  her  mind,  and  Alan's 
presence  was  enough  to  draw  it  forth.  The  young 
man,  whose  own  life  had  been  so  different,  whose 
laborious  days  had  known  nothing  of  the  tempta- 
tions of  the  world  in  which  she  lived,  was  yet,  by 
a  certain  magnetism  of  sympathy,  able  to  compre- 
hend something  of  those  temptations  which  only 
the  rarest  souls  are  able  to  resist.  A  mere  glimpse 
of  Bernadette's  life  had  already  enabled  him  to  see 
how  youth  and  pleasure  and  the  wine  of  adulation 
may  intoxicate ;  and  thinking  to  himself  how 
little  these  influences  had  changed  her,  how  true 
the  nature  evidently  remained,  how  gentle  and 


154  A  LITTLE   MAID    OF   AKCADY. 

affectionate  the  heart,  he  was  not  inclined  to  judge 
her  harshly  even  for  such  forgetfulness  of  higher 
things  as  she  confessed. 

"  Perhaps  you  blame  yourself  too  much,"  he 
said.  "  You  have  been  true  to  your  faith  in  a 
position  where  many  would  have  given  it  up ; 
and  it  is  natural  that,  with  the  obstacles  of  which 
you  speak  thrown  in  your  way,  and  the  kind  of 
life  you  lead,  }7ou  should  have  grown  a  little  care- 
less. At  least  I  am  sure  of  one  thing — that  /am 
not  sufficiently  exemplary  to  preach  to  you." 

Bernadette  shook  her  head.  "  Don't  try  to  de- 
ceive me  about  yourself,"  she  said.  "I  know 
what  you  are,  Alan.  You  would  always  be  as 
true  as  steel  to  anything  you  professed, — nothing 
would  make  you  swerve.  But  I  am  pleasure- 
loving,  and  fond  beyond  belief  of  all  things  gay 
and  bright.  I  suppose  it  is  my  French  blood," 
she  ended  a  little  mournfully,  "  that  makes  me  so 
frivolous.  At  least  people  say  the  French  are 
frivolous.  Yet  there  have  certainly  been  a  great 
manv  French  saints." 

"  A  great  many,  certainly,"  answered  Alan, 
with  a  laugh.  "You  are  alwa}Ts  gay  and  light- 
hearted,  Bernadette ;  but  I  don't  call  that  frivo- 
lous. And  as  for  loving  pleasure,  why  Ave  all 
love  it — when  we  can  get  it.  Only  we  shouldn't 
let  it  make  us  forget  better  things,  such  as  our 
duty    or    our    work.       You'll    not   let   it   make 


A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARC  AD  Y.  155 

you  forget  the  greatest  duty  of  all,  when  you 
come  to  think.     I  am  sure  of  that." 

w'  Don't  be  too  sure,  Alan.  You  think  too  well 
of  me,"  said  Bernadette,  again  shaking  her  head. 

But  it  is  pleasant  to  be  thought  well  of,  and 
more  of  an  incentive  to  better  things  than  many 
stern  censors  believe.  To  tell  a  man  that  he  is 
worthless  is  to  go  very  far  toward  making  him  so; 
and  the  same  is  true  of  a  woman.  Although  she 
knew  in  her  own  conscience  that  Alan  judged  her 
too  leniently,  Bernadette  felt  comforted,  and  re- 
solved to  prove  herself  worthy  of  this  kind  and  leni- 
ent judgment.  Gay,  pleasure-loving,  frivolous  as 
she  perhaps  had  truly  called  herself,  Alan  was  right 
so  far,  that  the  heart  underneath  was  sound  and 
true  and  faithful  to  its  early  affections.  All  the 
sweet,  wild  freshness  and  peace  of  that  secluded 
yet  happy  life  of  her  childhood  seemed  to  return 
to  her  spirit  as  she  listened  to  Alan's  talk,  and  re- 
called with  him  a  hundred  memories  of  those 
early  days ;  while  his  quiet,  direct  simplicity,  his 
sincerity  of  speech  and  earnestness  of  thought, 
made  a  striking  contrast  to  the  young  men  who 
usually  surrounded  her. 

So  they  wandered  on  around  the  mountain  side, 
dark  shade  arching  over  their  heads,  dimness  and 
greenness  all  about  them,  down  far  below  a  sunny 
stretch  of  meadow  and  a  bright  stream  dashing 
along.     It  was  one  of  the  hours  in  life  to  which 


156  A  LITTLE  MAID   OF  ARCADY. 

we  look  back  afterward   and  wonder  if  we  half 
appreciated  the  golden  minutes  as  they  passed. 

They  returned  to  the  hotel  in  time  for  the  ger- 
man  ;  but  it  was  a  very  close  thing  indeed.  The 
baud  was  pealing  away  at  a  galop  when  the}*  ap- 
proached ;  and  at  the  ball-room  door  the}7  met  a 
young  man  with  rather  a  blank  look  on  his  face, 
talking  to  Chesselton. 

"  Oh,  here  she  is ! "  said  he,  breaking  off  sud- 
denly as  he  caught  sight  of  the  young  girl.  "  I 
had  almost  given  you  up,  Miss  Arnaud,"  he  went 
on,  advancing  toward  her  ;  "  especially  since 
Ridgeley  told  me  you  had  gone  out  on  the  mount- 
ain." 

"  But  I  told  Ridgeley  that  I  would  certainly  be 
bask  in  time,"  said  she,  with  a  quick  little  flash  of 
vexation  at  her  cousin. 

He  shrugged  his  shoulders  slightly. 

"  From  an  extended  experience  of  your  sex  in 
general,  and  yourself  in  particular.  Bernadette,  I 
did  not  place  very  implicit  confidence  in  the 
assertion." 

;;  But  you  see  I  am  back." 

"  Yes,  I  see  it,"  he  answered,  as  he  walked 
away. 

This  little  interchange  of  pleasantry  puzzled 
Alan,  when,  having  surrendered  Bernadette  to 
her  partner,  he  walked  away.  It  was  very  evi- 
dent in  what  manner  Chesselton  cared  for  his 
cousin,  but  how  she  cared  for  him  was  a  different 


A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY.  157 

matter.  Was  this  petulant  irritation  purely  what 
it  seemed,  the  outbreak  of  irrepressible  impatience 
at  his  surveillance,  or  was  it  the  sign  of  love,  a 
sign  older  far  than  the  days  of  Beatrice  and  Ben- 
edick ?  This  doubt  was  the  problem  which  occu- 
pied his  leisure  moments  for  the  remainder  of  the 
morning. 

When  the  german  was  over,  Bernadette,  es- 
corted by  her  partner,  went  her  way  over  the  sun- 
lit lawn  to  her  aunt's  cottage.  On  the  piazza 
thereof  she  found  her  cousin  smoking.  Having 
parted  with  her  companion,  she  ascended  the 
steps  and  was  about  to  pass  by  without  any  other 
salutation  than  "Has  Fay  gone  in,  liidgeley  ?  " 
when  to  her  surprise  he  rose  and  stopped  her. 

"  I  suppose  you  are  not  too  tired  to  sit  down 
for  a  short  while,  Bernadette  ?  "  he  said.  "  I  have 
something  to  say  to  you." 

"  I  am  very  tired,"  said  Bernadette,  in  the  tone 
of  one  anxious  to  escape  an  impending  ordeal  of 
an  unpleasant  nature. 

"Very  well,"  he  answered  coldly,  and  turned 
away. 

"Oh,  dear!"  thought  Bernadette,  "now  I  have 
offended  him ! " 

Moved  by  compunction,  she  hesitated  a  moment, 
then  came  forward  and  sat  down  on  a  vacant 
chair  near  him,  untying  the  strings  of  her  hat  as 
she  did  so. 

"The   german   is  very  exhausting,"  she  said; 


158  A  LITTLE  MAID   OF  ARCADY. 

"  but  I  believe  it  is  cooler  here  where  one  gets  a 
breeze  than  in  the  cottage."  She  paused  a  mo- 
ment.    "  Did  you  want  to  speak  to  me,  Ridgeley  ?  " 

"  I  thought  you  were  too  tired  for  anything  so 
unpleasant,  Bernadette." 

"  I  did  not  say  that  it  was  unpleasant,"  she  re- 
torted, with  indignant  inconsistency. 

"  You  said  you  were  tired,  and  your  tone  im- 
plied the  rest." 

"  I  am  resting  now,  however." 

"  And  ready  to  hear  me  ?  " 

"Yes" — she  winced  a  little  though, — "ready  to 
hear  you." 

"Very  well,"  said  he,  curtly.  "At  least  I  can 
promise  not  to  detain  you  very  long." 

"Something  dreadful  is  coming  !  "  thought  she, 
aghast. 

It  did  not  come  immediately,  however.  Mr. 
Chesselton  knocked  the  ashes  off  his  cigar,  threw 
the  cigar  awa}',  and  finally  leaned  back  in  his 
chair,  looking  ver}^  pale  and  determined  before  he 
said  a  word.  Then,  raising  his  eyes  to  Berna- 
dette's  face,  from  which  the  flush  of  the  german 
had  not  yet  died  away,  he  spoke  abruptly : 

"  Bernadette,  how  much  longer  is  this  sort  of 
thing  to  go  on  ?  " 

"  What  sort  of  thing  ?  "  asked  Bernadette, 
twisting  one  of  her  hat  strings  round  her  finger, 
and  absently  watching  the  band  as  they  crossed 
the  lawn  with  their  instruments  in  their  hands. 


A   LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY.  159 

"  You  know  very  well  what  sort  of  thing  I 
mean,"  he  answered,  almost  sternly.  "  Why 
should  you  pretend  to  misunderstand  me  ?  Ber- 
nadette,  are  you  engaged  to  me  or  are  you  not?" 

"  Decidedly  I  am  not,"  she  answered,  with  ris- 
ing color  and  sparkling  eyes. 

"  Will  you  tell  me,  then,  what  it  was  that  you 
were  pleased  to  promise  me  four  months  ago? ' 

The  coldness  of  his  tone  stung  her  into  indigna- 
tion . 

"  Since  grandpapa  and  Aunt  Alice  and — and 
yourself  were  all  anxious  that  I  should  marry  you, 
I  promised  to  try  and  think  of  it,"  she  replied, 
almost  defiantly. 

Her  words  stung  him  in  turn.  The  mounting 
color  and  the  hasty  action  with  which  he  bit  his 
lips  proved  as  much. 

"  You  are  very  kind  to  place  my  wishes  in  the 
same  category  with  those  of  my  grandfather  and 
mother,"  he  said.  "I  fancied,  however,  that  the 
compact  was  a  little  more  binding  in  its  nature 
than  you  define  it.  But  such  as  it  was,  I  was 
willing  to  risk  everything  on  it.  I  have  loved 
you  too  long  and  too  well,  Bernadette,  not  to  be 
willing  to  sacrifice  even  my  pride  to  win  your 
love — if  it  was  to  be  won." 

"  You  love  me  better  than  I  deserve,  Ridgeley," 
she  said.  "  You  think  me  very  perverse,  but  I — I 
know  that." 

"It  does  not  teach  you  to  regard  my  wishes." 


160  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   AllCADY. 

"  Only  love  would  teach  me  that." 

She  spoke  on  an  impulse;  and  she  was  sorry  for 
having  yielded  to  it  when  she  saw  how  pale  he 
became,  how  deeply  her  words  seemed  to  hurt 
him . 

"  You  are  candid  at  least,"  he  said. 

"  Forgive  me,  Ridgeley  !  "  she  cried,  penitently. 
"  I — I  am  al\va}7s  saying  something  which  I  have 
cause  to  regret.     Of  course  I  love  you." 

"  Yes,"  said  he,  bitterly,  "  as  you  love  Fay  per- 
haps. But  that  is  not  the  kind  of  love  I  want. 
You  know  that  yourself,  and  you  were  right  in 
saying  that  you  have  not  got  it  for  me.  It  cer- 
tainly would  teach  you  some  regard  for  my  wishes 
if  you  had." 

11 1  don't  think  any  amount  of  love  would  teach 
me  to  let  you  dictate  every  act  of  my  life,",  said 
she,  a  little  hotly. 

"  That  is  because  you  don't  know  anything 
about  it,"  he  answered. 

There  was  a  pause  after  this, — a  pause  which 
lasted  so  long  that  Bernadette  looked  curiously  at 
her  cousin.  Only  his  profile,  a  very  handsome 
and  clearly-cut  one,  was  turned  toward  her;  but 
there  was  such  an  expression  of  pain  in  his  eyes 
that  it  went  to  her  heart. 

"  Ridgeley,"  she  said,  quickly,  "  why  can't  you 
be  a  little  reasonable  ?  Why  are  you  vexed  be- 
cause I  am  glad  to  see  Alan  ?  " 


A   LITTLE   MAID    OF    ARC  AD  Y.  161 

"  Have  I  said  a  word  about  Alan,  as  you  call 
him  ?  "  asked  he,  flushing. 

"  I  know  very  well  that  that  is  what  is  the  mat- 
ter," she  answered.  "  You  were  vexed  last  night, 
you  are  vexed  to-day  ;  and  I  think,"  waxing  quite 
warm,  "that  it  is  the  most  unreasonable  thing  I 
ever  heard,  and — if  you  care  anything  about  me — 
the  most  ungrateful !  " 

"  I  am  as  grateful  as  you  could  possibly  desire 
to  this  young  man's  parents,"  he  said,  coldly;  "but 
I  can  not  see  that  any  excess  of  gratitude  is 
necessary  toward  himself.  And  really  I  must  say 
that  I  consider  your  effusive  manner  to  him  not 
only  very  absurd,  but  also  very  improper.  It  is 
calculated  to  attract  a  great  deal  of  attention,  to 
provoke  a  great  deal  of  unpleasant  comment,  and 
to  give  him  a  very  mistaken  idea  of  his  own  im- 
portance." 

"  That  will  do ! "  said  Bernadette,  rising,  with 
flashing  eyes.  "  I  don't  think  I  ever  knew  you  so 
disagreeable  before  in  my  life.  And  that  is  say- 
ing a  very  great  deal." 

With  this  she  swept  majestically  into  the  cot- 
tage, leaving  him  to  his  meditations,  and  another 
cigar  if  he  chose  to  light  it. 
11 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Theee  were  many  indications  after  this  that 
told  Alan  the  position  of  affairs  between  Berna- 
dette  and  her  cousin.  At  least  he  saw  very  plainly 
Chesselton's  attitude,  but  Bernadette's  puzzled 
him.  Did  the  girl  care  for  her  cousin  as  that 
cousin  evidently  cared  for  her,  or  did  she  not?  It 
was  a  question  as  difficult  for  the  looker-on  to  an- 
swer as  for  the  man  who  was  himself  so  vitally 
concerned  in  it.  And  }ret  this  looker-on  brought 
to  its  consideration  an  interest  as  close  and  as 
keen  as  that  of  the  other — perhaps,  indeed,  more 
so ;  for,  as  we  are  well  aware,  consideration  of 
self  blinds  the  judgment,  while  unselfishness  clears 
it.  Now,  Chesseltou  thought  only  of  himself  and 
his  own  wishes,  whereas  Cameron  thought  first, 
and  it  might  almost  be  said  solely,  of  Berna- 
dette  and  Bernadette's  happiness.  The  dream 
which  he  had  cherished  for  seven  years  of  himself 
making  that  happiness,  seemed  now  only  a  thing 
at  which  to  sadly  smile.  Day  by  day  he  realized 
more  clearly  the  fallacy  of  his  hopes.  He  had 
been  mad  indeed,  he  thought,  to  dream  that  this 
radiant  princess  would  ever  leave  the  gala  world 
in  which  she  shone,  to  go  back  to  the  plain, 
homely  life  of  her  childhood,  from  which  she  had 
(162) 


A   LITTLE   MAID    OF   ARCADY.  163 

escaped  as  a  humming-bird  might  escape  from 
darkness  to  glowing  sunshine,  to  vivifying  warmth 
and  odorous  flowers.  No  :  she  was  where  she  be- 
longed, and  he  would  make  no  hopeless  effort  to 
take  her  away;  but  he  would  like  to  be  sure  that 
her  happiness  was  secure,  so  far  as  earthly  happi- 
ness may  be  secure,  before  he  left  her  again — this 
time  probably  forever. 

But  was  Ridgeley  Chesselton  the  man  to  secure 
that  happiness?  Of  this  he  had  many  doubts. 
He  tried  honestly  not  to  be  prejudiced  by  the  con- 
duct of  that  gentleman  toward  himself;  for  he 
knew  that  the  dislike  and  distrust,  the  cold,  al- 
most insolent,  disapproval  which  Chesselton's 
manner  evinced,  was  dictated  hj  jealousy— jealousy 
of  the  young  girl's  frankly-displayed  affection  for  the 
companion  of  her  childhood,  of  the  associations  of 
that  childhood,  and  especially  (though  he  might 
have  scorned  to  acknowledge  it)  of  Alan  Cameron 
as  a  man  with  possible  aspirations  like  his  own. 
But  Alan,  with  a  quiet  dignity  that  took  no  heed 
of  incivility,  put  Mr.  Chesselton's  slights  aside, 
and  only  asked  himself  with  growing  solicitude 
if  this  was  the  man  to  make  Bernadette  happy, 
and — more  than  that — to  bring  out  what  was  best 
in  her  character,  as  every  human  association,  but 
especially  that  of  marriage,  must  do,  or  else  be 
judged  unworthy?  To  answer  seemed  as  yet  im- 
possible. He  must  wait,  at  whatever  cost  to  him- 
self, and  see. 


164  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   A.RCADY. 

It  did  not  occur  to  him  to  consider  what  he 
could  do  in  the  case  of  a  negative  answer.  Could 
he  hope  that  if  Bernadette  was  under  the  influ- 
ence of  a  passion  which  is  proverbially  deaf  to 
reason,  she  would  listen  to  him  should  he  advise 
her  against  it  ?  This  question  he  did  not  ask. 
He  had  a  brother's  right — the  right  of  old  associa- 
tion and  love — to  warn  her  should  he  see  her 
about  to  make  a  great  mistake ;  and  that  right  he 
would  exercise,  even  if  nothing  but  sorrow  to  him- 
self came  of  it. 

None  of  Bernadette's  relatives  except  Chessel- 
ton  exhibited  the  least  superciliousness  of  manner 
toward  him.  It  was  true  that  one  of  them  took 
much  notice  of  him  ;  but,  then,  in  the  whirl  of 
watering-place  life,  there  was  not  a  great  deal  of 
opportunity  for  such  notice,  especially  since  Alan 
scrupulously  abstained  from  obtruding  himself 
upon  them.  In  their  gay  set  he  felt  very  much 
out  of  place,  as  a  man  not  brought  up  in  a  certain 
social  atmosphere  always  feels,  no  matter  what 
his  abilities  or  success  in  life  may  be.  He  was 
content  to  see  Bernadette  now  and  then  in  some 
quiet  corner  apart,  where  they  could  talk,  away 
from  the  throng  that  constantly  surrounded  her. 
But  these  occasions  were  rare,  for  the  demands 
upon  her  time  were  many ;  and  they  became  more 
rare  as  the  first  novelty  of  his  appearance  wore 
off.  It  was  not  that  she  neglected  him,  or  failed 
to  give  him  the  brightest  and  sweetest  of  welcomes 


A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY.  165 

when  he  approached  her  ;  but  she  had  seldom  a 
minute  to  spare  for  him  alone.  Had  he  been  con- 
tent to  take  his  place  among  the  gilded  youth  who 
fluttered  constantly  around  her,  he  might  have 
gained  a  fair  share  of  her  attention  ;  but  that  he 
was  as  unable  to  do  as  to  make  himself  over  again 
in  their  mould. 

He  made  no  complaint  of  what  he  recognized 
more  and  more  to  be  a  natural  state  of  affairs  ;  but 
Bernadette's  heart  smote  her  now  and  again,  when 
she  caught  glimpses  of  him  in  the  background,  as 
it  were,  of  her  gaj  life.  She  would  see  his  face 
in  the  ball-room  door  watching  her  as  she  swept 
by  in  the  circling  throng  of  dancers;  or  catch  a 
glimpse  of  him  in  some  group  of  quiet,  profes- 
sional men  in  a  corner  of  the  wide  piazzas,  as  she 
passed  with  her  attendant  court  of  cavaliers ;  or 
met  him  strolling  along  the  woodland  paths  that 
surrounded  the  Springs,  while  she  rode  by  with 
some  gay  equestrian  party.  If  he  had  ever  found 
fault  with  her,  she  would  have  been  quick  to 
justify  herself;  but  there  was  never  a  trace  of  in- 
jury in  his  tone  or  manner.  Xo  matter  how 
much  she  neglected  him — and  that  was  what  she 
called  it  to  herself, — there  was  always  the  same 
kindness  in  the  eyes  that  looked  at  her,  the  same 
tenderness  and  indulgence  in  manner  and  speech. 
The  Alan  of  old  had  been  prone  to  find  fault,  a^ 
most  brothers  are  ;  but  this  was  a  new  and  dif- 
ferent  Alan,  whom  she  felt    sometimes  as  if  she 


166  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARC  AD  Y. 

did  not  know.  Where  had  he  gained  the  quiet 
dignity  that  set  a  seal  of  distinction  upon  him — as 
true  and  unaffected  dignity  always  does,— or  the 
patience  and  tolerance,  which  were  virtues  that 
had  not  been  conspicuous  in  the  Alan  of  old  ? 

"  How  good  he  is !  "'  she  said  to  herself,  when 
he  drew  aside  one  day  on  one  of  the  woodland 
ways  already  mentioned  to  let  her  ride  by,  and 
gave  her  a  smile  that  warmed  her  heart  like  sun- 
shine, so  full  was  it  of  affection  and  pleasure  in 
her  pleasure.  "  He  does  not  seem  to  think  of 
himself  at  all.  What  a  beautiful  thing  unselfish- 
ness is !  I  wonder  what  Ridgeley  would  say  and 
do  if  he  were  in  Alan's  place, — if  he  had  crossed 
the  continent  to  see  an  ungrateful,  frivolous  little 
wretch,  who  hardly  gives  him  a  minute  of  her 
time  ?  It  would  be  a  fine  scowl  she  would  get 
from  him,  instead  of  such  a  smile  as  that." 

Perhaps  it  was  the  further  reflection  that  if  un- 
selfishness is  a  beautiful  thing — the  most  beauti- 
ful given  to  our  contemplation  here  on  earth, — 
the  converse  of  the  proposition  certainly  holds 
good,  inasmuch  as  there  is  nothing  so  hideous  as 
selfishness,  which  made  Bernadette  that  evening 
give  Alan  a  little  more  of  her  society  than  he  had 
recently  enjoyed. 

"  Come  over  to  the  cottage,"  she  said,  as  he 
paused  at  their  table  on  leaving  the  dining-room 
to  ask  if  she  had  enjoyed  her  ride.     "  I  am  a  little 


A  LITTLE   MAID    OF   ARCADY.  167 

tired,  so  I  think  of  not  going  to  the  ball-room  to- 
night— " 

44  O   Bernadette  ! — and  all  your  engagements  ?  ' 
interrupted  Fay. 

Bernadette  made  a  gesture  siginTying  that  she 
regarded  the  engagements  as  of  less  than  no  im- 
portance. 

44  You  can  tell  everybody  that  I  am  tired,*'  she 
answered.  4;  I  shall  spend  the  evening  at  the  cot- 
tage.    You'll  come  over,  Alan, — will  you  not  ? ' 

44  I'll  be  delighted,"  said  Alan,  who  really  felt 
delighted  at  such  an  unexpected  opportunity;  for 
although  he  had  spoken  truly  when  he  told  Berna- 
dette once  or  twice  that  he  liked  to  see  her  enjoy- 
ing herself  in  the  ball-room,  the  undisputed  belle 
and  beauty  of  the  scene,  it  must  be  admitted  that 
it  was  a  species  of  enjoyment  that  had  in  it  a 
very  distinct  flavor  of  loneliness  for  himself. 

Miss  Chesselton  looked  meditatively  after  him 
as  he  walked  away. 

44  Fate  has  certainly  elected  to  spoil  you,  Berna- 
dette," she  remarked,  pleasantly.  44I  know  no 
woman  who  has  so  many  willing  slaves.  This 
foster-brother  of  yours,  or  whatever  you  call  him, 
is  like  all  the  rest :  thankful  for  such  crumbs  of 
notice  as  it  pleases  you  to  vouchsafe  him,  and 
without  the  spirit  of  a  muuse  when  3*011  neglect 
him.  Did  they  all  treat  you  that  way  in  the  ideal 
farm-house  of  Arcadia  in  which  you  used  to 
live,  and  where  you  were  so  happy  ?  " 


168  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

"  They  treated  me  a  hundred  times  better  than 
I  deserved,"  said  Bernadette,  emphatically. 
"  Don't  ever  laugh  at  that  farm-house,  or  the  peo- 
ple that  lived  in  it,  Fay,  if  you  don't  wish  that 
you  and  I  should  quarrel." 

"  Why  should  I  laugh  ?  '  asked  Fay,  opening 
her  pretty  eyes.  "I  quite  envy  you  the  experi- 
ence of  a  genuine  bit  of  romance  in  your  life — so 
different  from  the  rest  of  us  commonplace  girls. 
And  as  for  your — well,"  catching  a  glance  from 
her  mother,  "  Mr.  Cameron,  I  like  him  exceed- 
ingly. He,  too,  has  evidently  come  from  Arcadia  ; 
for  he  is  very  unlike  other  men — I  mean  the  men 
we  know.  But  T  find  the  difference  refreshing, 
and  himself  quite  agreeable.  In  your  place,  I 
should  be  tempted  to  give  him  a  little  more  time 
and  attention." 

"  FajT,"  interposed  her  grandfather,  "  I  am  sorry 
to  see  that  }rou  have  not  yet  corrected  your  habit 
of  talking  very  heedlessly." 

But,  heedless  or  not,  Fay's  words  remained  in 
Bernadette's  mind,  and  added  to  the  self-reproach 
already  there.  So  when  Alan  came  up  the  steps 
which  led  to  the  cottage,  he  discerned  by  the  soft 
light  of  the  stars  a  white -clad  figure  reclining  in 
a  low  easy-chair  on  the  vernada,  and  he  was  met 
with  a  warmth  of  welcome  which  made  his  heart 
beat  with  pleasure. 

"  I  am  so  glad  to  see  you  ! '  Bernadette  said. 
"  I  feel  as   if  I  had  only  had  a  bowing  acquaint- 


A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARC  ADV.  169 

ance  with  you  for  the  last  few  days.  See,  here  is 
a  chair  I  have  placed  for  you  just  opposite  mine. 
Sit  down  and  let  us  be  comfortable." 

Alan  obeyed  very  gladly.  This  was  more  than 
comfort,  it  was  delight,  to  be  here  alone  with 
Bernadette,  under  the  lovely  stars,  with  the  solemn 
mountains  they  had  once  known  so  well  rising  in 
massive  forms  against  the  sky ;  no  crowd  sur- 
rounding them,  no  glaring  lights,  no  crash  of 
orchestra  in  their  ears.  At  this  distance,  the 
great,  illuminated  hotel  in  the  centre  of  the  valley 
looked  like  a  fairy  palace,  out  of  which  issued  no 
sound  save  the  subdued  strains  of  music,  coming 
in  fitful  waves  of  melody  on  the  soft  night 
breeze. 

"Now,"  said  Bernadette,  boldly  and  shame- 
lessly carrying  the  war  into  Africa,  "  what  have 
you  meant  by  neglecting  me  so  lately?  " 

Astonished  for  a  moment  bv  this  most  unex- 
pected  question,  Alan  could  not  then  restrain  a 
laugh. 

"  Have  I  neglected  you  ?  "  he  asked  in  turn. 
"  Well,  really,  Bernadette,  it  has  seemed  to  me — " 

"That  I  have  neglected  you,  no  doubt,"  said 
Bernadette,  in  an  injured  tone.  "  That  is  how  un- 
reasonable men  are  !  Is  not  a  girl  obliged  to  ac- 
cept the  society  of  men  who  seek  her?  She  can 
not  go  in  search  of  them.  If  you  cared  to  see 
more  of  me,  why  have  not  you  come  like  the 
rest  ?  " 


170  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARC  AD  Y. 

"Because,"  answered  Alan,  quietly,  "  there  is 
no  pleasure  to  me  in  seeing  you  in  that  way — in 
sharing  your  society  with  a  dozen  or  so  others.  I 
have  not  said  that  you  have  neglected  me — I  have 
not  thought  so  for  a  moment.  It  is  very  natural 
that  you  should  not  have  much  time  to  give  to 
me,  unless  I  claimed  it  in  a  manner  like  others. 
Don't  fret  over  any  idea  that  I  can't  understand ; 
and,  above  all,  don't  think  that  I  came  here  to  be 
an  embarrassment  to  you.  I  came  to — to  satisfy 
myself  about  your  life  and  that  you  are  happy  in 
it.  And  now  that  I  am  satisfied,  I  can  go  away 
with  a  lighter  heart." 

"  Alan,  you  are  too  good  ! "  said  Bernadette, 
with  some  thing  like  a  sob  in  her  voice.  "  You 
make  me  ashamed.  But  perhaps  I  am  not  so  happy 
as  you  think,"  she  added,  in  a  lower  voice,  and  as 
if  the  impulse  to  speak  was  too  strong  for  her. 

Alan  started.  "  It  would  be  strange  if  I  did  not 
think  so,"  he  said.  "  You  seem  so  gay,  so  light- 
hearted —  " 

"  Oh,  so  I  am  !  "  she  interrupted.  "  Did  I  not 
tell  you  I  was  frivolous  ?  I  can  not  rest  content 
with  sad  thoughts,  if  it  is  possible  to  throw  them  off. 
I  like  gayety  and  brightness ;  and  when  I  seem 
light-hearted,  I  am  so  ;  but,  all  the  same,  I  am  not 
happy." 

"  Why  not,  Bernadette  ?  "  asked  Alan,  earnestly. 
"  Tell  me,  my  dear — little  sister  !    There  is  noth- 


A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   ABCADY.  171 

ing  in  life  dearer  to  me  than  your  happiness,  and 
I  would  do  anything  to  secure  it.     Tell  me." 

"It  is  about — Ridgeley,"  Bernadette  began — 
when  she  suddenly  stopped  short  almost  with  a 
gasp ;  for  at  this  moment  a  tall,  dark  figure  came 
along  the  walk  below  the  cottage,  and,  ascending 
the  steps  in  the  light  of  the  doorway,  proved  to  be 
Ridgeley  Chesselton  himself. 

"Are  you  there,  Bernadette  !  "  he  said,  peering 
into  the  gloom. 

"  Yes,"  she  answered :  "  I  am  here  with  Alan. 
What  do  you  want  ?  " 

"Nothing  much,"  he  replied,  sitting  down  in  a 
vacant  chair,  without  any  acknowledgment  of 
Cameron's  presence.  "  Only — why  are  you  not  in 
the  ball-room?  " 

"  You  heard  me  say  that  I  was  tired  and  not 
going  to-night.  There  is  no  law  compelling  one 
to  go  to  the  ball-room  whether  one  likes  it  or  not." 

"  Certainly  there  is  no  law,"  he  said  ;  "  but  there 
are  apt  to  be  many  inquiries  and  conjectures  when 
a  young  lady  who  has  heretofore  been  so  unfailing 
in  her  attendance  stays  away  without  cause." 

"  There  is  cause.  I  have  said  that  I  am  tired. 
And  if  there  were  no  cause,  it  is  nobody's  busi- 
ness but  my  own.  I  will  not  be  dictated  to, 
Ridgeley." 

"Nor  advised,  apparently,"  he  said,  with  great 
coolness.  "But  I  should  think  that  you  at  least 
have  sufficient  knowledge  of  the  customs  of  good 


172  A   LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

society  to  be  aware  that  a  young  lady  so  conspic- 
uous as  yourself  can  not  be  absent  from  the  places 
where  she  is  usually  seen  for  a  whole  evening,  and 
spend  it  tete-a-tete  with  one  person,  without  the  fact 
being  remarked." 

"It  Avould  be  remarked  by  no  one  except  your- 
self,'' said  Bernadette,  who  was  by  this  time  in  a 
towering  rage.  "  You  are  insulting  both  to  me 
and  to  Alan.  I  am  ashamed  of  you,— ashamed 
that  you  can  forget  yourself  so  far  !  " 

"  It  is  you  who  seem  to  have  forgotten  a  good 
many  things  lately,"  said  Chesselton,  with  an  out- 
ward calmness  which  did  not  conceal  the  fact  that 
he  was  as  angry  as  herself.  "  As  for  insults — Mr. 
Cameron,"  turning  toward  him  for  the  first  time, 
"is  at  liberty  to  judge  whether  or  not  I  insult  him 
by  saying  that  a  gentleman  does  not  take  advan- 
tage of  a  foolish  girl's  folly  to  make  her  the  sub- 
ject of  unpleasant  remark." 

"  Bernadette,"  said  Alan  quietly,  without  tak- 
ing the  least  notice  of  Chesselton's  speech,  "you 
observed  a  few  minutes  ago  that  a  man  who  desires 
the  society  of  a  young  lady  should  seek  it.  That 
is  very  true ;  so  if  you  have  no  other  engagement 
to-morrow  morning,  will  }tou  take  a  walk  with 
me?" 

"Of  coarse  I  will,"  replied  Bernadette.  "But 
don't  go  now,  Alan.  Stay  and  let  us  have  our 
talk,— I  have  seen  so  little  of  you  lately.  You" 
turning   suddenly  to  Chesselton,  "  can  go  when- 


A   LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY.  173 

ever  you  like.  You  will  neither  induce  me  to  go 
to  the  ball-room  nor  to  speak  to  you  again  to- 
night." 

"  Many  thanks  for  the  kind  permission,"  he  an- 
swered, sarcastically.  "  But,  as  it  chances,  I  prefer 
to  remain  here." 

"  Then  good-night,  Alan  ! "  said  Bernadette,  ris- 
ing abruptly.  "  You  have  been  treated  with 
shameful  rudeness ;  but  I  beg  you  to  believe  that 
my  grandfather  would  be  as  sorry  as  I  am  for  it, 
if  he  knew  it." 

"  There  is  nothing  to  be  sorry  for  on  my  occount, 
Bernadette,"  replied  Alan,  with  the  same  quiet- 
ness as  before.  "  Remember  to-morrow  morning. 
I  will  meet  you  in  the  parlor  of  the  hotel  after 
breakfast.     Good-night ! " 

He  pressed  the  little  hand  that  clasped  his  al- 
most convulsively ;  and  then,  without  noticing 
Chesselton's  presence,  left  the  veranda  and  walked 
away,  with  a  heavier  heart  than  he  would  have 
imagined  possible  half  an  hour  earlier. 


CHAPTER  V. 

It  was  the  next  morning  that  Mr.  Chesselton 
said  to  his  mother :  "  I  don't  see  how  you  can 
stand  the  manner  that  fellow  Cameron  assumes 
toward  Bernadette.  It  is  presuming  in  the  ex- 
treme, and  must  excite  a  great  deal  of  attention. 
Last  night  she  absolutehT  stayed  over  here  for  the 
purpose  of  talking  to  him.  I  wonder  you  toler- 
ate it." 

u  What  can  I  do?  "  asked  Mrs.  Chesselton,  who 
had  heard  Bernadette's  indignant  report  of  the 
occurrence  of  the  night  before,  but  knew  well  that 
remonstrance  with  Ridgeley  was  useless. 

They  were  seated  on  the  same  veranda  where 
the  disagreeable  little  scene  had  taken  place ;  the 
beautiful  valley  lay  before  them,  bathed  in  sun- 
light and  brilliant  with  the  gay  life  that  filled  it. 
Mrs.  Chesselton,  in  a  morning  negligee  of  softest 
white  lawn  and  pale  mauve  ribbons,  leaning  back 
in  the  same  low  chair  which  Bernadette  had  occu- 
pied the  night  before,  was  a  picture  of  refined, 
delicate  beauty.  Her  slender  hands,  loaded  with 
sparkling  rings,  held  an  open  newspaper ;  but  her 
ej'es,  as  she  answered  her  son,  wondered,  with  a 
disturbed  look  in  them,  to  the  serene  mountain 
summits  that  rose  against  the  skjr  into  the  fine, 
(174) 


A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY.  175 

clear  region  of  the  upper  air.  Perhaps  she  was 
thinking  of  the  repose  that  lay  upon  them, — that 
repose  which  is  so  far  from  even  the  most  prosper- 
ous life  in  the  world  below. 

"  You  must  remember,"  she  went  on  after  a  mo- 
ment, "  that  Bernadette  and  this  young  man  spent 
ten  years  of  their  lives  together  as  brother  and  sis- 
ter. We  can  not  ignore  that  fact ;  and  to  ask  her 
to  ignore  it  uould  be  as  unreasonable  as  to  forget 
all  that  she  owes  to  his  parents  would  be  ungrate- 
ful. I  confess  that  I  should  be  glad  if  he  had 
chosen  another  time  and  place  for  presenting  him- 
self. But,  after  all,  he  is  much  less  impossible  in 
appearance  and  manners  than  might  have  been  ex- 
pected ;  while  the  fact  that  Bernadette  treats  him 
with  such  frank  familiarity  is  very  reassuring.  Be 
satisfied  to  tolerate  him,  my  dear  Ridgeley,  so  long 
as  he  shows  no  signs  of  being  more  than  the 
adopted  brother. 

"  And  do  you  really  think  he  is  only  that?  "  de- 
manded Ridgeley,  scornfully.  "  You  have  less 
penetration  than  I  gave  you  credit  for.  In  the* 
first  place,  let  me  tell  you  that  no  man — woman,  I 
say — could  possibly  fail  to  fall  in  love  with  Berna- 
dette if  thrown  closely  with  her.  She  is  made  to 
win  hearts.  Why  ?  I  can  not  tell  you.  Who 
can  tell  these  things?  But  there  is  an  attraction 
about  her  that  more  beautiful  women  lack, — some- 
thing individual,  enthralling,  not  to  be  defined. 
And  this  man  loves  her.     I  have  seen  it  in  his  face. 


176  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

Don't  deceive  yourself  with  any  ideas  of  fraternal 
regard  on  his  part.     I  know  of  what  I  speak." 

"Even  if  it  is  so,"  said  Mrs.  Chesselton,  after  a 
short  pause,  "  what  then  ?  His  feelings  do  not 
concern  us.     And  of  Bernadette's  I  am  sure." 

"  It  is  more  than  I  am,  then,"  said  her  son,  bit- 
terly. "  She  is  expert  in  keeping  one  in  doubt ;  a 
seasoned  coquette  of  twice  her  age  could  not  man- 
age it  better.  I  have  positively  no  assurance  that 
she  cares  for  me  at  all. 

"  I  am  certain  that  she  does,  Ridgeley ;  but  you 
must  have  patience.  Remember  she  is  so  young. 
And  }'ou  demand  too  much.  I  can  see  that  3^011 
fret  her.  And  believe  me  it  is  not  well  to  treat 
this  young  Cameron  so — well,  coldly.  Bernadette 
resents  it ;  and — and  you  do  not  wish  it  to  be 
thought  that  you  fear  him  ?  " 

Quiet  as  they  were,  the  last  words  were  very 
significant,  and  the  blood  leaped  quickly  to  Ches- 
selton's  face. 

"  Afraid  !"  he  repeated,  haughtily.  "Do  you 
suppose  I  imagine  that  Bernadette  would  really 
think  of  the  man  as  a  suitor  ?  " 

"  No,"  replied  his  mother.  "  Neither  of  us  im- 
agine for  a  moment  that  she  would.  And  the  best 
way  to  show  that  we  have  no  such  suspicion  is  not 
to  give  him  a  fictitious  importance  by  anything 
that  he  or  she  could  construe  into  fear  of  it,  but  to 
tolerate  his  presence  with  courtesy  until  he  pleases 
to  relieve  us  of  it." 


A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY.  177 

"  His  assurance  is  intolerable  !  "  said  Chesselton, 
with  angry  remembrance  of  the  scene  of  the  night 
before — when  Alan's  manner  had  placed  him  so 
entirely  at  a  disadvantage. 

"It  may  be,"  said  the  lady;  "though  I  confess 
I  have  seen  no  signs  of  it.  But  what  do  you  gain 
by  treating  him  with  rudeness  ?  That  is  snobbish 
— forgive  me  if  I  must  say  so, — and  to  insult  and 
quarrel  with  him  would  be  worse  than  foolish. 
Will  it  win  Bernaclette's  heart  to  wound  her  in  her 
tenderest  susceptibilities?  You  know  howdeeplv 
she  feels  on  one  or  two  subjects — these  Camerons 
and  her  religion  chiefly, — and  you  should  never,  if 
you  wish  her  to  care  for  you,  antagonize  her  on 
those  points.  Oh,  when  will  men  learn,"  cried 
she,  in  the  tone  of  one  suddenly  losing  patience, 
"  that  it  is  kindness  which  wins  women's  hearts 
more  than  anything  else  on  earth?  We  are  more 
grateful  for  it — for  simple  kindness — than  for  pas- 
sionate devotion  or  homage  or  anything  of  the 
kind.  But  how  few  of  you  seem  to  know  this ! 
Here  is  your  case,  for  instance.  You  would  be 
willing  to  incur  any  danger  for  Bernadette,  make 
any  costly  sacrifice  to  please  her  ;  but  you  can  not 
be  kind,  merely  kind,  in  a  matter  wdiere  she  would 
feel  it  most.     How  strange  it  is  !  * 

It  was  so  seldom  that  Mrs.  Chesselton  ever  be- 
came excited,  or  expressed  herself  on  any  subject 
with  anything  approaching  to  vehemence,  that  her 
12 


178  A   LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARC  AD  Y. 

son  was  startled.  He  looked  at  her  with  surprise, 
then  said  : 

"  Why,  ma  mire,  you  become  didactic  !  But  I 
suppose  you  are  right.  Men  are,  generally  speak- 
ing, fools  in  their  conduct  toward  women;  and  I," 
ruefully,  "have  no  doubt  been  a  particularly  great 
fool.  I  ought  not  to  have  interfered  last  night. 
Bernadette  is  very  much  exasperated  against  me, 
and  I  suppose  I  must  apologize  to  her." 

"  I  certainly  think  it  necessary,"  said  his  mother, 
with  decision.  "  She  is  indeed  very  much  wounded, 
and  I  do  not  wonder." 

In  point  of  fact,  Bernadette  was  more  incensed 
than  wounded;  and  when  she  found  herself  alone 
with  Alan — when  they  left  the  hotel  and  its 
throngs  of  people  behind,  and  were  walking  along 
the  quiet  mountain  paths, — she  hastened  to  relieve 
her  overcharged  feelings  by  expression. 

"  Alan,"  she  said,  "  I  have  never  been  so  angry 
in  my  life  as  I  was  last  night,  and  1  do  not  know 
how  to  apologize  to  you  for  the  shameful  rudeness 
to  which  you  were  subjected." 

"  And  why  should  you  apologize  to  me  at  all  ?  " 
asked  Alan.  "  I  was  sorry  for  your  sake  that  your 
cousin  behaved  so  rudelv ;  for  I  knew  that  it 
would  annoy  you  exceedingly.  But,  believe  me, 
he  has  no  power  to  annoy  me.  Why  should  he 
have?  He  is  absolutely  nothing  to  me— unless," 
and  his  voice   changed  here  as  if  from  a  sudden 


A   LITTLE   MAID   OF   AECADY.  179 

thought,  "  he  is  something  more  than  your  cousin 
to  you." 

"  He  desires  to  be  more,"  replied  Bernadette. 
"  It  was  of  that  I  was  about  to  speak  to  you  last 
night  when  he  interrupted  us." 

"  Well,  he  can  not  interrupt  us  here,"  said  Alan; 
"  so  you  can  tell  me  all  that  you  would  have  said 
then.  See,  here  is  a  pleasant  seat.  Let  us  rest  a 
while." 

They  sat  down  on  one  of  the  rustic  benches 
placed  at  intervals  for  the  benefit  of  wanderers  in 
this  sylvan  paradise.  The  verdure-clad  mountain 
side  rose  steeply  behind  them ;  along  the  shade- 
flecked  road  in  front,  strolling  couples  passed  now 
and  then,  generally  their  heads  close  together  un- 
der the  lady's  parasol ;  and  beyond,  through  the 
stems  of  the  trees  that  edged  the  precipice,  were 
enchanting  glimpses  of  the  sunny  meadow  far  be- 
low, where  men  were  at  work  making  hay. 

Bernadette  looked  at  the  picture  for  a  time 
with  wistful  eyes. 

"  How  such  scenes  as  that— how  all  this  country 
makes  me  think  of  the  dear  old  home  !  "  she  said. 
"  Alan,  I  sometimes  feel  as  if  it  were  all  a  mas- 
querade, a  play,  the  life  I  lead  now;  and  as  if 
the  only  real  life  I  had  ever  known  was  that  sim- 
ple but  oh  so  happy  life  that  we  once  led  among 
these  hills!  Ridgeley  used  to  call  me  a  little  maid 
of  Arcadia,  because  he  said  the  stamp  of  that 
life  would  always  be  upon  me ;  and  I  think  he  was 


180  A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

right.  It  is  said  that  one  with  gypsy  blood  can 
never  be  civilized  so  that  he  will  not  break  away 
sometimes  from  all  social  restraints,  and  go  off  to 
wander  over  hill  and  dale,  and  sleep  under  the 
stars.  I  have  something  of  the  same  desire.  When 
I  found  myself  once  more  among  the  great  hills 
— and  how  often  I  dreamed  of  them  in  the  years 
I  was  far  away  ! — I  felt  as  if  they  called  me,  as  if 
I  wanted  to  go  and  bury  myself  in  the  wild,  fresh, 
green  solitudes  we  know  so  well ;  to  lie  down 
among  the  ferns,  to  find  the  crystal  streams  where 
they  rise,  and  to  breathe  once  more  the  air  of 
the  high  summits.  I  think  I  am  half  a  dryad," 
she  ended  smiling.  "  They  should  have  called 
me  Sylvia," 

"I  have  the  same  feelings," said  Alan,  filling 
his  lungs  as  he  spoke  with  a  deep  draught  of  the 
mountain  air  they  both  loved.  "But  then,  I  am 
of  highland  blood,  and  all  my  ancestors  have  loved 
the  hills.  It  is  natural  enough  in  me  ;  but  you 
— I  am  glad  you  still  think  of  the  old  life  so  ten- 
derly, Bernadette.  But  if  you  went  back  to  it 
now,  you  would  soon  weary  of  it." 

"That  shows  how  little  you  know  me,"  said 
Bernadette, — "  no  more  than  the  rest.  I  should 
not  weary  of  it,  and  I  am  sure  I  should  be  a  much 
better  person.  But  there  is  no  good  in  discussing 
it,  for  of  course  I  can  not  go  back.  We  can 
never  go  back  to  anything  in  this  world  and 
have  it  exactly  the  same.     i  The  mill  will  never 


A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARC  AD  Y.  181 

grind  again  with  the  water  that  is  past' — O  Alan, 
do  you  remember  ?  " 

Did  not  Alan  remember?  His  heart  burned 
within  him  ;  he  was  conscious  of  an  almost  over- 
mastering desire  to  turn  and  say,  "  No  we  can  not 
bring  back  the  past,  but  we  can  make  the  future 
even  better.  Come,  let  us  go  together  to  the 
Arcadia  of  our  vouth.  We  can  find  it  if  we  en- 
ter  by  the  gate  of  love. 

But  he  resisted  the  temptation.  He  would  not 
take  advantage  of  the  softening  memories  of  that 
past  which  her  loyal  heart  cherished  so  tenderly, 
and  but  for  his  association  with  which  (so  he  said 
to  himself  humbly)  she  would  give  no  thought  of 
an}^  kind  to  him.  No :  his  business  here  was  to 
do  anything,  all  things,  that  lay  in  his  power  for 
her  happiness ;  but  that  happiness  could  never  be 
gained,  he  was  sure,  by  taking  her  away  from  the 
brilliant  life  that  opened  before  her. 

"  I  remember  well,  Bernadette,"  he  answered,  a 
little  sadly.  "  Nothing  is  more  true.  We  can 
never  bring  back  the  old  happy  days  of  our  child- 
hood ;  but  I  am  very  grateful  for  their  memory, 
and  more  grateful  yet  to  find  you  still  so  full  of 
affection  for  the  things  of  the  past.  But  this  is 
not  what  we  came  here  to  speak  of.  Tell  me — for 
I  am  very  anxious  to  know — how  matters  stand 
between  your  cousin  and  yourself." 

"They  stand  this  way,"  said  Bernadette,  look- 
ing down  and  tracing  figures  with  the  point  of  her 


182  A   LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

parasol  on  the  soil  before  her :  "  Ridgeley  thinks 
that  I  am  engaged  to  him,  but  I  am  not." 

"  How  can  he  possibly  think  so  if  you  are 
not?"  asked  Alan,  conscious  of  a  painful  constric- 
tion in  the  region  of  his  heart.  "  Men  do  not 
make  such  mistakes  with  out  cause." 

"  No  doubt  you  will  think  it  is  my  fault,"  said 
the  young  girl,  looking  up  with  a  suspicious  liquid- 
ness  in  her  eyes.  "  It  is  sometime  now  since  he 
told  me  that  he  wanted  to  marry  me  ;  and  grand- 
papa and  Aunt  \lice  were  very  anxious  for  it  also. 
And — and  I  told  him  that  I  would  try  and  think 
of  it.  I  never  said  anv  more  than  that,  indeed. 
Yet  now  he  is  angry  and  jealous,  and  calls  me  the 
worst  possible  coquette  because  I  say  that  I  am 
not  engaged  to  him.  Should  you  think  such  a 
promise  as  that  constituted  an  engagement  ?  " 

"Certainlv  not,"  answered  Alan,  unable  to  re- 
press  a  smile.  "  But  probably  he  understood  you 
to  mean  more  than  you  expressed.  And  you 
must  admit  that  to  '  try  and  think  of  it'  was  very 
indefinite.  Forgive  me  if  I  say  that  such  an- 
swers are  generally  a  mistake.  A  woman  owes 
a  man  perfect  and  unhesitating  candor  in  such  a 
case  as  this.  You  do  not  know  what  he  suffers 
from  uncertainty.  And  do  you  not  know — let  me 
speak  to  you  as  my  sister — how  even  a  touch  of 
coquetry  lowers  her  from  the  high  standard  of  per- 
fect womanhood." 

"  But  I  never  thought  of  coquetry  !  "  protested 


A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   AECADY.  183 

Bernaclette,  and  the  tears  stood  unmistakably  in 
her  eyes  now.  "I  only  thought  of  doing  what 
they  all  wanted — if  I  could." 

44  What  4they  all  wanted'!'  repeated  Alan. 
44  Were  your  cousin's  wishes  no  more  to  you  than 
those  of  your  grandfather  aud  aunt?  In  that  case 
3^ou  can  not  love  him,  Bernaclette." 

4t  I  don't  know,"  answered  Bernadette.  u  Some- 
times I  think  that  I  do  ;  but  perhaps,  as  he  tells 
me,  I  don't  know  what  love  is.  I  know,  however, 
that  last  night  I  hated  him  !  "  she  said, with  a  sud- 
den blaze  in  her  eyes. 

44 1  am  sure  you  did  not,"  said  Alan, promptly. 
44  You  were  only  very  angry  with  him  ;  and  so  you 
are  still,  for  that  matter.  Never  mind  last  night. 
Try  to  forget  it.  What  I  want  you  to  find  out  now, 
with  the  seriousness  that  befits  such  a  question, 
is  whether  or  not  you  love  this  man  well  enough 
to  marry  him  for  his  own  sake,  and  not  because 
any  one  else  wishes  you  to  do  it."  He  paused  for 
a  moment  and  knitted  his  brows  in  consideration, 
then  went  on  slowly  ;  44  You  may  be  able  to  tell  in 
this  way.  Strip  him  in  your  mind  of  all  his  ad- 
vantages of  wealth  and  social  position  ;  fancy  him 
an  obscure  and  struggling  man,  who  offers  you  not 
a  life  of  brilliant  ease,  but  one  of  possible  hard- 
ship and  comparative  poverty  in  the  rough  places 
of  the  world.  Would  you  think  of  sharing  that 
life  with  him?  If  so,  Bernadette,  you  love  him, 
and  love  him  for  himself." 


184  A  LtTTLE  MAID   OF   ABC  AD}?. 

Bernadette  knitted  her  slender,  dark  brows  in 
turn,  and  sat  quite  silent  for  several  minutes. 
Evidently  she  was  making  the  effort  of  fancy  de- 
manded of  her.  Presently  she  looked  up.  There 
was  a  curious  light  in  her  eves  ;  but  she  shook 
her  head. 

"  I  can  not  do  it,"  she  said, — "  I  can  not 
imagine  Ridgeley  in  any  other  position  than  the 
one  he  occupies.  He  simply  would  not  be  Ridge- 
ley under  such  circumstances — and  I  don't  know 
what  I  would  think  of  him.  But  I  am  sure — per- 
fectly sure — of  one  thing,  Alan :  if  I  loved  him, 
the  things  of  which  you  speak  would  not  matter  to 
me  at  all." 

"  I  am  afraid  that  is  because  you  do  not  appre- 
ciate what  they  are,"  said  Alan,  with  a  sigh. 
"But  it  is  a  great  'if,'  Bernadette  ;  and  you  must 
try  to  answer  it,  my  dear.  So  much  is  demanded 
of  you.  And  now  let  me  ask  one  thing  more. 
Have  you  considered  that  the  Church  forbids  the 
marriage  of  cousins  ?  " 

"Oh,  yes!'  she  answered,  readily;  "but  one 
can  get  a  dispensation,  if  one  wishes.  We  some- 
times hear  of  such  things,  vou  know." 

"  But  should  one  want  a  dispensation  to  set 
aside  a  command  of  the  kind,  without  very  good 
reason  ?  And  I  have  not  heard  any  reason  yet, 
except  the  wishes  of  your  family." 

Bernadette  looked  conscience-stricken  for  a 
moment. 


A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY.  185 

"  Alan,"  she  said,  "  you  remember  that  I  told 
you  I  had  become  a  very  careless  Catholic.  You 
see  now  that  I  spoke  the  truth.  I  have  hardly 
given  this  view  of  the  matter  a  thought.  I  did 
suggest  it  to  Ridgeley,  and  he  said  :  4Oh,  Catholics 
always  get  what  they  call  a  dispensation  !  It  is 
very  easy,  I  think.  I  have  known  dozens  of 
cases.'     After  that,  I  never  thought  of  it  again." 

"  Well,"  said  Alan,  "  God  forbid  that  I  should 
attempt  to  lay  down  your  duty  to  you;  but  one 
thing  seems  to  me  quite  plain  :  if  these  prohibi- 
tions were  not  intended  to  be  binding  on  our 
consciences,  they  would  not  have  been  made. 
And  that  being  so,  I  do  not  think  we  should  pro- 
pose to  set  them  aside  without  a  thought  of  their 
gravity.  But,  of  course,  you  have  consulted  your 
confessor." 

"No,"  said  Bernadette.  "I  have  consulted  no- 
body. As  I  tell  you,  I  have  not  given  that  view 
of  the  matter  a  thought.  Alan,  one  thing  I  fear 
is  certain — that  if  I  marry  Ridgeley,  I  shall  be- 
come even  a  poorer  Catholic  than  I  am  now. 
The  world  is  too  strong  for  me ;  and  he  believes 
in  nothing  but  the  world." 

"Then — "  began  Alan  quickly,  but  checked 
himself.  "No,"  he  thought  resolutely,  "  I  will 
not  advise  her  against  it.  I  can  not  trust  my  own 
motives."  It  was  a  moment  before  he  went  on, 
more  slowly:  "Then,"  he  said,  "you  must  try  to 
find  out   without  loss  of  time  what  is  the  right 


186  A  LITTLE  MAID   OF  ARC  AD  Y. 

thing  to  do ;  and  when  you  have  found  out,  you 
must  do  it  fearlessly.  You  know  how  to  find  out. 
I  am  sure  you  have  not  forgotten  the  old  lessons 
so  entirely  that  I  need  to  tell  you  that." 

"No,  I  have  not  forgotten,"  she  replied,  in  a 
low  voice.  "  I  promise  you,  Alan,  I  will  find  out 
— in  that  way." 

"  God  will  help  you,"  he  said;  but  his  face  was 
very  pale.  "  And  now,"  he  added,  rising,  "  since 
all  has  been  said,  let  us  go.  Your  friends  will 
think  I  am  keeping  you  too  long." 


CHAPTER  VI. 

The  next  day  was  Sunday ;  and  Alan  learned 
that  there  would  be  Mass  at  a  little  chapel  near 
the  Springs,  to  which  a  priest  came  now  and  then 
for  the  benefit  of  the  few  Catholics  in  the  neigh- 
borhood, chiefly  laborers  on  the  railroad  and  ser- 
vants in  the  hotels.  He  went  at  once  to  Berna- 
dette  with  the  news,  and  she  willingly  agreed  to 
walk  to  the  chapel  with  him,  a  distance  of  about 
a  mile. 

It  was  a  very  plain  little  chapel,  with  no  ar- 
tistic adornments  of  any  kind,  and  the  simplest 
possible  altar  of  painted  wood  in  the  tiny  sanctu- 
ary. But  the  plainness  and  poverty,  of  all  things, 
seemed  to  touch  Bernaclette  with  a  keener  re- 
newal of  the  faith  of  her  childhood  than  she  had 
known  since  the  days  when,  in  just  such  another 
church,  she  had  knelt  by  her  adopted  mother's 
side.  The  old  scenes,  the  old  life,  the  old  feelings, 
came  back  upon  her  with  a  rush,  as  she  looked  at 
the  altar,  as  expressive  of  poverty  as  the  House  of 
Nazareth ;  and  then  out  of  the  open  windows, 
through  which  came  the  sweet  mountain  air,  to 
the  solemn  mountain  heights  beyond.  Even  the 
appearance  of  the  congregation — the  laboring  men 
in  their  ill-fitting  Sunday  coats,  the  servant-girls 

(187) 


188  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

in  their  Sunday  finery — helped  to  recall  those  past 
days  and  that  other  rustic  church.  Save  the 
great  Sacrifice  of  the  Altar,  there  had  been  noth- 
ing in  common  between  that  sanctuary  of  her 
childhood  and  the  beautiful  Jesuit  church  of  New 
Orleans,  with  its  splendid  ceremonies,  its  elaborate 
music,  and  its  fashionable  congregation,  which 
she  had  chieflj7  known  in  these  latter  years.  And 
then — what  wonder  was  this  !— into  the  sanctuaiy 
stepped  the  priest,  attired  in  vestments  that  suited 
the  poverty  of  all  else  ;  and  Bernaclette  recognized 
the  most  familiar  figure  of  her  childhood — the 
priest  who  had  baptized  her,  who  heard  her  first 
confession,  who  had  laid  his  hand  so  often  on  her 
head  and  bidden  her  never  forget  that  she  was  a 
Catholic.  There  he  was, — ulder  no  doubt;  his 
shoulders  somewhat  bent  under  the  burdens  they 
had  carried  for  so  many  years ;  his  rugged,  kind 
face  more  deepl}T  lined,  but  the  same,  absolutely 
the  same !  She  turned  and  looked  at  Alan,  her 
eyes  expressing  at  once  astonishment  and  inquiry. 

"Why,  it  is  Father  Boyd!"  her  glance  said. 
"Did  you  know  it?" 

Alan's  eyes  were  also  full  of  surprise,  and  he 
shook  his  head.  "  It  is  the  same  old  Father 
Boyd,"  he  whispered.  "I  hadn't  an  idea  he  was 
still  on  the  mission.  How  glad  I  am  to  see  him 
again !  " 

" In  nomine  Patris,  et  Filii,  et  Sjnritus  Saiicti" 
said   the  priest's  clear  tones  at  the  foot  of  the 


A   LITTLE   MAID    OF   AECADY.  189 

altar ;  and  with  a  scuffling,  kicking  of  kneeling- 
benches,  and  rustling  of  starched  skirts,  those  of 
the  congregation  who  were  not  already  on  their 
knees  placed  themselves  in  an  attitude  of  devotion 
as  the  Mass  commenced.  It  was  a  Low  Mass ; 
but  there  was  a  short,  practical  sermon  at  the 
Gospel,  every  word  of  which,  in  that  familiar 
voice,  sank  into  Bernadette's  heart  as  the  most 
eloquent  sermons  had  often  failed  to  do ;  and  in 
the  solemn  portion  of  the  Mass,  when  the  Sacred 
Host  was  uplifted  over  the  bent  heads  of  the 
people,  she  registered  a  vow  in  the  depths  of  that 
heart,  which  she  determined  to  lose  no  time  in 
fulfilling. 

With  one  accord  she  and  Alan  said  to  each 
other  when  the  Mass  was  over:  "We  must  go 
and  speak  to  Father  Boyd."  And,  following  the 
congregation  out  into  the  open  air,  they  made 
their  way  to  the  tiny  sacristy  at  the  back  of  the 
church.  Here,  however,  they  found  that  a  large 
proportion  of  those  present  at  the  Mass  had  pre- 
ceded them,  and  surrounded  the  priest,  who  stood 
in  the  open  door  of  the  little  room. 

"  We  must  wait,"  said  Bernadette,  drawing 
under  the  shade  of  a  large  tree.  "  How  exactly 
like  the  old  time  it  is !  The  people  used  to  do 
just  this  way, —  don't  you  remember?  And  he 
was  always  so  patient.  Alan,  were  you  not  aston- 
ished to  see  him  ?     I  had  so  little  anticipation  of 


190  A   LITTLE   MATD   OF   ARCADY. 

anything  of  the  kind  that  I  could  hardly  believe 
the  evidence  of  my  eyes." 

"  I  was  amazed,"  answered  Alan.  "  And  yet, 
after  all,  there  is  nothing  very  remarkable  in  his 
being  here  yet.  Seven  years  is  not  a  very  long 
time." 

"It  seems  an.  age  to  me,"  said  Bernadette. 
"  Absolutely  the  appearance  of  a  ghost  could  not 
have  startled  me  more.  I  had  fancied  him  grown 
old,  and  dead  long  ago ;  yet  he  hardly  looks 
changed.  Do  you  know,"  she  went  on  after  a 
moment's  pause,  4i  I  feel  as  if  he  had  been  sent 
here  for  me  specially  ?  I  can  speak  to  him  as  to 
no  one  else  in  the  world ;  and  I  mean  to  tell  him 
everything,  Alan,  to  ask  and  to  follow  his  advice. 
I  have  promised  that." 

She  did  not  say  whom  she  had  promised,  but 
Alan  understood.  "I  am  sure  you  could  not  do 
better,"  he  answered.  "  When  will  you  speak  to 
him — now?" 

"  Oh,  no :  not  now !  I  want  more  attention 
than  he  can  give  me  now.  See,  he  is  looking  this 
way.     Do  you  think  he  recognizes  us  ?  ' 

"  Of  course  not,"  replied  Alan,  with  a  laugh. 
"  He  is  wondering  what  such  a  fashionable  young 
lady  as  yourself  can  possibly  want  with  him." 

"  Come,  then,  and  we  will  let  him  know,"  she 
said,  walking  forward  over  the  grass. 

Only  one  or  two  persons  were  still  lingering 
around  the  sacristy  door;  and  Father  Boyd  was 


A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARCADY.  191 

listening  to  what  tliey  had  to  say  when  he  became 
aware  of  the  approach  of  the  two  young  people  in 
the  background,  at  whom  he  had  indeed  cast  one 
or  two  curious  glances.  A  fashionable  young 
lady  certainly,  this  beautiful  girl  in  her  perfect 
toilette,  the  very  simplicity  of  which  spoke  of 
wealth  and  taste,  and  her  lovely  face  under  a  hat 
covered  with  curling  plumes,  who  advanced  in 
front.  Yet  where  had  he  seen  before  such  eyes 
as  those  that  smilingly  met  his  own?  And  what 
was  there  strangely  familiar  in  that  charming 
countenance,  with  its  softly-glowing  tints  ?  Even 
as  he  asked  himself  the  questions,  they  were  an- 
swered. 

"  Father,"  said  the  young  lady,  coming  quickly 
up  the  steps  to  his  side,  "  don't  you  know  me  ? 
I  am  little  Bernadette." 

For  a  moment  lie  was  too  much  surprised  to 
speak.  "  What  Bernadette  ? — our  lost  Berna- 
dette ! "  he  then  exclaimed,  grasping  her  hands  in 
both  his  own.  "  My  child,  what  a  happiness  to 
see  you  again !  I  should  never  have  known  you, 
— never  !  And  yet  I  see  now  that  you  are  Berna- 
dette. Where  do  you  come  from  ?  And  who  is 
this  with  you  ?     Not — not — " 

"  Alan  Cameron  ? — yes,  Father,"  answered  that 
young  man.  "I  can  not  tell  you  what  a  pleasure 
it  is  to  us  to  find  }*ou  here  still." 

"And  your  parents — your  good  parents  ?  "  asked 
the  priest.     "  What  of  them  ?  " 


192  A  LITTLE  MAID    OF   ARC  AD  Y. 

"  They  are  in  Scotland,"  Alan  replied.  "  But 
I  have  come  back  to  America  to  work  my  way ; 
and  I  came  here  to  the  Springs  to  meet  Berna- 
dette,  whom  I  have  not  seen  before  since  we 
parted." 

"  Come  in  both  of  you,"  said  the  priest,  draw- 
ing them  into  the  sacristy.  "  Let  me  look  at  you, 
and  tell  me  all  about  yourselves.  You,"  fixing 
his  kind  but  piercing  eyes  on  Bernadette, — "are 
you  still  a  good  Catholic  ?  " 

"I  am  a  Catholic,  Father,"  she  answered;  "but 
a  good  one — no,  I  can  not  say  that.  All  that  I 
can  say  is  that  I  have  not  given  up  my  faith." 

"  That  is  much,"  he  said,  nodding  approvingly. 
"1  feared  for  you  after  you  were  taken  away. 
The  danger  was  very  great.  Thank  God  you 
have  not  yielded  to  it !  " 

Bernadette  looked  at  Alan.  His  glance  seemed 
to  give  her  courage.  "  I  can  not  take  any  credit 
to  myself,  Father,"  she  said,  humbly.  "I  have 
never  felt  the  least  temptation  to  renounce  my 
faith.  If  I  had  been  tempted,  I  might  have 
yielded ;  for  I  have  certainly  yielded  to  other 
temptations.  I  have  grown  worldly,  careless,  in- 
different—" 

"Tut,  tut !  "  said  the  priest,  smiling.  "  We  are 
not  in  the  confessional.  You  are  at  least  as  can- 
did as  ever,  I  see.  She  has  set  you  a  good  ex- 
ample," turning  suddenly  upon  Alan.  "  What 
have  you  to  accuse  yourself  of  ?  ' 


A   LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY.  193 

';  I  can  not  imitate  her  candor  !  "  the  young  man 
replied,  smiling  and  shaking  his  head.  "  I  must 
reserve  my  mea  culpa  for  the  confessional.  Mean- 
while, Father,  tell  us  something  about  yourself, 
and  all  you  have  been  doing  in  these  seven  years. 
Or  rather,"  with  a  quick  recollection,  "  do  not  let 
us  detain  you  now ;  for  I  know  you  are  fasting. 
But  tell  me  where  you  are  staying,  that  I  may 
come  to  see  you  later  in  the  day." 

"  And  I  also  want  to  see  you  later,  if  you  please, 
Father,"  said  Bernadette.  "  But  I  should  prefer 
to  see  you  here,  if  you  are  not  staying  too  far 
away  to  come  back  to  the  church  again." 

"  I  shall  be  back  at  four  o'clock  this  afternoon, 
to  catechise  the  children  and  hear  confessions," 
said  the  priest.  "  You  can  meet  me  here  then. 
And  you" — to  Alan — "will  find  me  until  four 
o'clock  at  the  house  of  a  man  named  Kelly,  near 
the  railway  station.  And  now,  my  children,  you 
had  better  go ;  for  I  have  still  my  thanksgiving  to 
make.     God  bless  you  both  !  " 

There  was  considerable  surprise  in  the  Ridgeley 
cottage  that  afternoon,  when,  in  the  midst  of  the 
time  sacred  to  siesta,  Bernadette  made  her  appear- 
ance attired  for  a  walk,  and  mentioned  that  she 
was  going  to  church  again. 

«  Why,  what  singular  fit  of  devotion  has  seized 

you  ?  "  said  Fay,  who  was  half  asleep  when  the 

first  sign  of  this  intention  began  to  manifest  itself 

in  practical  action.     "  Go  to  church  at  this  broil- 

13 


194  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARC  AD  Y. 

ing  hour  !  What  an  idea  !  The  influence  of  the 
adopted  brother  appears  to  be  of  a  religious  char- 
acter. I  don't  know  when  I  have  seen  you  go  to 
church  twice  in  one  day  before." 

"You  don't  need  to  remind  me,  Fay,  that  I 
have  neglected  my  religious  duties  shamefully," 
Bernadette  replied.  "  But  you  know  it  is  never 
too  late  to  mend.  The  priest  who  said  Mass  this 
morning  was  the  old  priest  whom  I  knew  in  my 
childhood,  and  I  told  him  I  would  come  to  the 
church  this  afternoon  for  confession.  That  is  why 
I  am  going." 

"  I  suppose  he  told  you  that  you  must"  said 
Fay.  "  Well,  my  dear,  you  have  my  sincere 
sympathy.  Confession  no  doubt  is  bad  enough, 
but  a  walk  of  a  mile  or  two  in  this  afternoon  sun 
is  worse.  I  am  glad  I  am  not  held  in  such  a  bond- 
age. Good-bye  !  '  And  the  speaker  turned  her 
rosy  face  over  on  her  pillow  and  straightway  fell 
asleep. 

But  Bernadette  had  another  gauntlet  to  run  be- 
fore she  was  permitted  to  depart  in  peace.  On 
the  vernada,  lying  back  in  a  low,  wicker  chair, 
smoking  and  lazily  reading  a  newspaper,  was 
Ridgeley  Chesselton.  He,  too,  looked  up  with 
surprise,  elevating  his  eyebrows  when  he  saw  her. 
Amicable  relations  had  been  restored  between 
them  by  an  apology  on  his  part  the  day  before ; 
but  Bernadette  had  by  no  means  entirely  forgot- 


A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY.  195 

ten  or  forgiven  his  conduct,  so  she  was  passing 
him  with  a  cool  little  nod  when  he  spoke. 

"What  does  this  mean?"  he  asked.  "  Where 
are  you  going  at  this  hour  of  the  afternoon  ?  ' 

"I  am  going  to  church,"  she  answered.  "  I  sup- 
pose, like  Fay,  you  consider  it  a  singular  taste. 
But  you  see  it  is  my  taste,  so  good-bye  !  " 

"  Stop  a  moment.  I  thought  you  went  to  church 
this  morning?  " 

"  And  if  I  did,  is  that  any  reason  why  I  should 
not  go  again  this  afternoon,  if  I  wish  to  do 
so?" 

"  No  reason,  of  course — only  you  are  not 
usually  so  devout.  May  I  ask  if  you  are  going 
alone  ?  " 

"  I  am  going  alone.  Is  there,"  with  a  spark  of 
rising  anger  in  her  glance,  "  anything  else  you 
would  like  to  know  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  rising  to  his  feet.  "  I  should  like  to 
know  if  you  have  any  objection  to  my  accompany- 
ing you.  It  is  too  long  a  walk  for  you  to  take 
alone." 

"  The  walk  is  nothing,"  she  replied ;  "  and  I 
have  a  decided  objection  to  your  accompanying 
me.  I  am  going  to  confession,  and  it  would  dis- 
turb me  very  much  to  know  that  you  were  wait- 
ing for  me.  One  prefers  to  be  alone  at  such 
times." 

"  I  think  you  alway  prefer  to  be  alone  when  it 
is  a  question  of  being  with  me,"  he  said,  bitterly. 


19G  A   LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

"  I  can  not  endure  this  state  of  affairs  much 
longer,  Bernadette.  We  must  have  an  under- 
standing— final  and  complete." 

"  I  agree  with  yon,  JRidgeley,"  she  said,  with 
sudden  gravity  and  gentleness.  "A  final  and 
complete  understanding  is  indeed  necessary  be- 
tween us ;  and  I  regret  that  the  state  of  affairs 
which  tries  }rou  so  much  has  been  in  great  measure 
my  fault.  Try  to  forgive  me  and  to  be  patient  a 
little  longer.  After  to-day  we  will  have  the  un- 
derstanding whenever  you  please." 

With  that  she  descended  the  steps  at  the  top  of 
which  she  had  been  standing,  and  walked  away, 
leaving  him  too  much  astonished  to  reply.  And 
not  only  astonished.  A  cold  foreboding  of  dis- 
aster seemed  to  close  upon  his  heart.  For  the  first 
time  he  faced  clearly  the  danger  of  losing  her. 
He  had  been  angry  and  jealous  before,  but  he  had 
never  seriously  entertained  the  thought  that  she 
would  not  in  the  end  prove  compliant  to  his 
wishes  and  those  of  the  family.  But  now !  It 
had  been  a  strange  Bernadette  who  looked  at  him 
a  moment  since,  and  spoke  with  such  new  decision 
and  quietness.  Her  manner  more  than  her  words 
chilled  him.  He  sat  down  again  in  his  chair,  and 
stared  after  her  as  long  as  the  last  flutter  of  her 
white  dress  was  in  sight.  Then  he  set  his  teeth, 
and  his  eyes  gathered  an  ominous  light.  "  If  she 
throws  me  over,"  he  said,  "  I  shall  know  whom  to 
thank — and  hold  to  account !  " 


A  LITTLE   MAID    OF   ARCADY.  197 

Alan  was  not  at  church  that  afternoon,  and  he 
did  not  see  Bernadette  again  that  day.  She  did 
not  come  over  to  the  hotel  in  the  evening ;  and 
Fay  told  him  that  she  had  resisted  all  persuasions 
to  do  so,  preferring  to  remain  at  the  cottage.  "  I 
suppose  she  is  meditating  upon  her  sins,''  said 
that  lively  young  lady.  "  You  know  she  went  to 
confession  this  afternoon." 

Alan  did  not  care  to  tell  her  that  Bernadette 
was  more  probably  preparing  for  Holy  Com- 
munion the  next  morning,  and  unwilling  to  dis- 
tract her  mind  with  the  frivolous  gayety  that 
would  have  surrounded  her  at  the  hotel.  But  the 
thought  reconciled  him  to  not  seeing  her  that 
night,  since  nothing  would  have  induced  him  to 
go  again  to  the  cottage  and  risk  another  scene 
with  Chesselton.  Chance,  however,  satisfied  him 
that  the  latter  gentleman  was  not  himself  enjoying 
Bernadette's  society;  since  he  stumbled  upon  him 
accidentally  in  a  dark  corner,  with  a  reputedly 
fascinating  young  widow  who  had  arrived  at  the 
Springs  a  few  days  before. 

Early  the  next  morning,  while  the  sun  had 
hardly  yet  climbed  over  the  eastern  mountains, 
and  the  air  was  full  of  the  delicious  freshness  of 
dawn  in  a  mountain  land,  Alan  took  his  way  to- 
ward the  church;  for  he  wanted  to  see  Father 
Boyd  before  Mass.  He  found  the  priest  already 
in  the  confessional ;  and  when  he  emerged  from  it 
himself,  the  first  person  on  whom  his  eye  fell  was 


198  A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   AKCADY. 

Bernadette,  sitting  near  the  altar.  He  did  not 
approach  her  until  the  moment  of  Communion, 
when  he  went  and  knelt  by  her  side  at  the  rail,  as 
they  had  so  often  knelt  together  in  their  child- 
hood. 

They  met  at  the  door  after  Mass ;  and  each  was 
struck  by  the  expression  of  the  other's  face, — by 
the  repose  of  glance  and  feature,  by  an  indescrib- 
able look  of  childhood  in  the  aspect  of  uplifted 
care.  In  truth,  both  had  laid  a  weight  down  in 
the  solemn  moment  of  Communion  ;  and  although 
in  Alan's  case  that  weight  had  included  renuncia- 
tion, he  felt  more  tranquil  than  he  had  done  for 
many  days  ;  and  the  fact  was  written  on  his  face 
and  in  his  eyes. 

"  You  look  like  yourself — you  look  more  like 
the  old  Alan  than  I  have  seen  you  yet,"  Berna- 
dette said  presently,  glancing  at  him  critically. 
"As  for  me,  I  am  light-hearted  as  a  bird.  I  see 
my  way  clear  at  last ;  and,  although  there  are 
some  hard  things  to  face,  it  is  a  great  happiness  to 
know  what  is  right.  O  Alan,  what  a  blessed  thing 
it  is  to  be  a  Catholic  !  " 


CHAPTER  VII. 

It  was  that  morning,  as  it  happened,  that  the 
plan  originated  in  Miss  Chesselton's  brain — a  very 
fertile  brain  when  plans  for  amusement  were  con- 
cerned— of  making  up  a  party  to  spend  a  day  at 
Bernadette's  old  home.  This  young  lady,  in  op- 
position to  her  brother,  had  taken  a  great  liking 
for  Alan  Cameron,  and  treated  him  whenever  he 
approached  her — which,  indeed,  was  not  very  often 
— with  distinguished  consideration.  On  the  pres- 
ent occasion  she  had  stopped  him  as  he  was  pass- 
ing wliere  she  sat  on  the  broad  piazza  ;  and  had  so 
offended  two  young  men  already  in  attendance  on 
her,  bv  devoting  what  thev  considered  an  undue 
share  of  attention  to  him,  that  they  glanced  at 
each  other  and  with  one  accord  took  their  depart- 
ure. 

"  I  am  glad  they  are  gone,"  said  Miss  Chessel- 
ton,  calmly.  "  They  were  very  stupid.  Sit  down, 
Mr.  Cameron.  You  can't  leave  me  alone,  you 
know.  That  would  be  a  deplorable  position  for 
one  of  the  belles  of  the  Springs." 

Cameron  laughed  as  he  obeyed.  He  liked  the 
frank,  pretty  girl,  who  always  met  him  so  pleas- 
antly. 

"I  am  very  much  honored,"  he  answered,  "that 

(199) 


200  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

you  allow  me  to  remain ;  but  as  for  fancying  that 
you  are  in  any  clanger  of  being  left  alone — if  I  am 
not  greatly  mistaken,  I  see  half  a  dozen  men  with 
an  eye  upon  this  corner." 

"  I  hope  they  will  be  satisfied  with  keeping  an 
eye  on  it;  for  just  now  I  want  to  talk  to  2/0?/," 
said  the  young  lady.  "  I  don't  have  an  opportun- 
ity of  meeting  you  very  often  :  and  I  find  it  quite 
refreshing  to  talk  to  you,  Mr.  Cameron.  You  are 
so  different  from  most  of  the  other  men  whom  I 
meet." 

"  You  must  remember  in  explanation  of  that," 
said  Alan,  "  that  my  life  and  my  education  have 
been  as  different  as  possible  from  theirs  ;  and,  be- 
sides, you  know,  my  social  advantages  have  been 
too  few  to  take  into  consideration  at  all ;  so,  nat- 
urally, I  do  not  know  much  of  the  small-talk  of 
society. 

"Very  small  talk  it  is,  as  a  general  rule,"  said 
Fay,  curling  her  rosy  lip.  "I  don't  think  you  need 
regret  not  knowing  it.  What  I  like  you  for  is  ex- 
actly the  fact  that  you  don't  know  it,  or  at  least 
you  don't  use  it.  You  absolutely  talk  about  sen- 
sible things  to  me  a  young  lady  who  is  supposed 
to  live  on  nonsense,  as  badly  brought  up  children 
live  on  bonbons.  But  if  the  men  who  talk  such 
nonsense  only  knew  it,  one  grows  very  tired  of  it 
and  them,"  said  she,  shooting  a  bright,  scornful 
glance  at  some  of  the  offenders  near  by  ;  "and,  it 
must  be  confessed,  one  is  thankful  to  find  a  man 


A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   AECADY.  201 

now  and  then  who  absolutely  pays  one  the  compli- 
ment of  taking  for  granted  that  one  has  a  little 
brains  stowed  away  somewhere." 

"  But  if  men  habitually  talk  nonsense  to  young 
ladies,  is  it  not  because  thev  have  found  that  non- 
sense  is  preferred  by  them?"  Alan  asked,  with  the 
diffidence  becoming  his  ignorance. 

"  That  is  the  masculine  view,  of  course,"  replied 
Miss  Chesselton.  "They  never  talk  nonsense  be- 
cause they  happen  to  be  fools  themselves,  but  only 
because  they  think  women  fools.  I  must  thank 
you,  Mr.  Cameron,  for  such  a  flattering  interpre- 
tation of  the  fact." 

"  You  are  too  quick  and  too  severe  on  me,"  said 
Alan,  smiling.  "  I  did  not  mean  to  imply  that,  but 
only " 

"  That  they  are  kind  enough  to  lower  the  tone 
of  their  conversation  to  the  supposed  capacity  of 
the  recipients,"  said  Fay,  ruthlessly.  "  That  is 
exactly  what  you  meant,  and  it  must  be  true  ;  for 
men,  when  they  are  with  men  and  at  work  in  their 
professions  and  so  on,  can  not  possibly  be  such  ut- 
ter idiots  as  many  of  them  are  when  they  are  with 
women.  But  you,  Mr.  Cameron,"  she  went  on, 
with  fine  condescension,  "  are  different.  I  have 
said  so  from  the  first.  You  talk  sense,  and  there- 
fore you  are  refreshing.  I  suppose  it  is  the  influ- 
ence of  that  old  Arcadian  life  of  yours  that 
makes  the  difference  in  }'Ou,  as  it  certainly  makes 
a  difference  even  yet  in  Bernadette.     She  .seems 


202  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

like  any  other  girl  in  society,  on  the  surface  ;  but 
when  you  get  below  the  surface,  the  difference  is 
there." 

"It  would  be  strange  if  it  were  not,"  said  Alan. 
"  The  foundations  of  character  are  laid  in  those 
years  of  life  which  Bernadette  spent  with  us  in 
'what  you  call  Arcadia,  but  which  was  only  Arca- 
dia inasmuch  as  it  was  a  life  remote  from  the  in- 
fluence of  the  world, — very  pure,  very  simple, 
very  full  of  honest  labor  and  quiet  pleasure." 

"  I  was  reading  the  other  day — for  I  read  some- 
times in  the  intervals  of  talking  and  listening  to 
nonsense,"  said  the  girl, — "  that  no  influence 
which  enters  into  our  lives  is  without  effect  upon 
our  character,  whether  we  know  it  or  not.  So,  of 
course,  you  are  right ;  and  those  influences  must 
have  affected  Bernadette  deeply.  Do  you  remem- 
ber the  afternoon  we  went  in  force  to  find  her?  " 

"I  shall  never  forget  it,"  answered  the  young 
man,  gravely. 

"Nor  I,"  said  she.  "  It  was  like  a  picture  or  a 
scene  in  a  novel, — your  father,  your  mother,  your- 
self, and  all  your  surroundings.  I  had  read  of 
such  a  life,  but  I  had  never  had  a  glimpse  of  it 
before  ;  and  it  made  an  indelible  impression  on  my 
mind.  Do  you  remember  how  Bernadette  ap- 
pealed to  you  not  to  let  her  be  taken  away,  and 
how  you  answered  ?  I  have  a  photograph  of  you 
in  my  mind  as  you  stood  there  in  the  doorway." 

"  I  remember  the  scene  as  if  it  were  yesterday," 


A   LITTLE   MAID    OF   ARCADY.  203 

he  replied  ;  "and  yet  how  far  away  it  seems  !  It 
is  difficult  to  realize  that  the  same  Bernadette 
whom  we  see  to-day  is  the  little  girl  who  clung  to 
my  mother  then,  and  begged  so  passionately  to  be 
left  with  her." 

"  She  had  never  known  any  other  life,"  said 
Miss  Chesselton.  "  Of  course  it  would  be  differ- 
ent now.  However  Arcadian  she  may  be  still, 
one  can  not  suppress  a  smile  to  think  of  Berna- 
dette begging  to  be  left  on  a  mountain  farm  to 
feed  chickens  and  the  like  !  " 

"  The  association  of  ideas  is  certainly  incongru- 
ous," observed  the  young  man,  following  Berna- 
dette with  his  eyes  as  she  happened  to  come  that 
moment  in  sight,  brilliant,  radiant,  attended  by  a 
brace  of  devoted  cavaliers. 

"  That  old  home  of  yours  was  so  very  prett}'," 
pursued  Miss  Chesselton.  "  Do  you  know  I  should 
like  of  all  things  to  see  it  again  ?  I  wonder  if  it 
would  be  practicable  ?  " 

"  Entirely  practicable,"  he  answered.  "  If  you 
get  on  the  train  here  in  the  morning,  you  will 
reach  Norris'  Station  in  an  hour.  From  thence  it 
is  only  three  miles  to  the  old  farm-house." 

"Three  miles  !"  said  Miss  Chesselton,  in  sur- 
prise. "  Why,  I  thought  the  train  passed  in  sight 
of  it ! " 

"  So  it  does ;  but  unfortunately  trains  stop  only 
at  stations." 

"  True,"  replied  she,  laughing.      "How,  then, 


204  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   AKCADY. 

could   we    manage   to    get   from    Norris'    to    the 
house  ?  " 

"  Oh,  arrangements  could  be  made,  no  doubt, — 
granting  that  you  are  not  enough  of  a  pedestrian 
to  walk  three  miles." 

"  Indeed  I  am  not,"  said  she.  "  Bernadette  " 
(as  her  cousin  approached),  "  do  come  and  listen 
to  what  a  charming  plan  Mr.  Cameron  and  myself 
are  discussing." 

Bernadette  came,  and  was  immediately  enrap- 
tured. It  was  the  thing  of  all  others  she  most  de- 
sired. 

"But  what  will  Aunt  Alice  say,  Fay  ?"  she 
could  not  help  asking,  doubtfully.  "  Do  you  think 
she  will  consent  ?  " 

"  Mamma's  consent  depends  very  much  upon 
Ridgeley,"  said  Miss  Fay,  astutely.  "  You  must 
ask  him,  Bernadette." 

"Can't  we  leave  him  out?  "said  Bernadette. 
"  You  know  as  well  as  I  do  that  he  has  been  very 
disagreeable  of  late." 

"  Yes,  I  know  it,"  answered  the  other,  candidly; 
"but  I  tell  you  it  depends  upon  him.  Neither 
mamma  nor  grandpapa  would  allow  us  to  join 
such  an  excursion  unless  Ridgeley  consented  to 
go." 

Bernadette's  face  fell  a  little.  She  knew  this 
was  true.  "  What  can  we  do  then  ?  "  she  asked. 
"  Flonestly,  I  am  afraid  he  will  never  consent — es- 
pecially if  J  ask  him." 


A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY.  205 

"  You  know  best  about  that,"  said  her  cousin. 
u  I  only  know  that  he  is  a  necessity  of  the  plan, 
— a  disagreeable  necessity  in  his  present  mood,  if 
you  like,  but  still  a  necessity.  We  must  find  some 
inducement  for  him  to  consent."  She  paused  a 
moment,  then  her  face  cleared  brightly  and  she 
laughed.  "  We  will  ask  Mrs.  Ellis  to  join  the 
party,"  she  said.  "  We  must  have  a  chaperon, 
you  know ;  and  she  will  do  as  well  as  another. 
Ridgeley  has  taken  up  his  old  flirtation  with  her 
— for  the  purpose  of  annoying  you,  I  suppose, 
Bernadette, — so  if  she  consents  he  will  be  bound 
to  go,  or  act  more  churlishly  than  he  is  likely  to 
do.     Is  not  that  a  good  plan  ?  " 

"  I  don't  know,"  answered  Bernadette,  doubt- 
fully. "  It  does  not  seem  to  me  that  Mrs.  Ellis' 
presence  will  add  to  the  pleasure  of  the  day  for 
us.     She  is  frivolous  to  the  last  degree." 

w*  What  difference  does  that  make  if  she  serves 
our  purpose  ?  '  Fay  inquired.  "  Her  frivolity 
will  not  annoy  us  ;  for  she  will  devote  herself  ex- 
clusively to  Ridgeley,  you  may  be  sure.  But," 
said  Miss  Chesselton,  spreading  out  her  hands 
with  an  air  of  renunciation,  "  I  am  not  anxious  to 
ask  her.  If  you  can  manage  Ridgeley  without 
her  aid,  we  will  say  no  more  about  her." 

"I  can  not  possibly  manage  Ridgeley,  as  you 
call  it,"  said  Bernadette,  turning  away.  "You 
must  do  as  you  think  best.      Only  there  will  not 


206  A   LITTLE   MAID    OF   ARCADY. 

be  much  pleasure  to  me  in  seeing  my  old  home  in 
such  companionship." 

"  Now,  I  wonder,"  said  Fay,  looking  after  her 
meditatively  as  she  passed  down  the  piazza,  "  if 
Ridgeley's  stale  stratagem  is  going  to  succeed, — if 
his  flirtation  with  Mrs.  Ellis  is  making  Bernadette 
jealous?  It  looks  a  little  like  it,  doesn't  it?  "  ap- 
pealing to  Alan. 

He  was  constrained  to  admit  to  himself  that  it 
did  look  a  little  like  it ;  but  he  evaded  answering 
the  question  by  asking  another. 

"  Who  is  Mrs.  Ellis  ?  And  why  is  she  supposed 
to  have  so  much  power  ?  " 

"  She  is  an  old  flame  of  Ridgeley's,"  replied  Miss 
Chesselton.  "  Seven  years  ago — the  very  summer 
we  found  Bernadette — he  fancied  himself  desper- 
ately in  love  with  her ;  and  she  encouraged  him,  and 
then  threw  him  over  to  marry  Mr.  Ellis,  who  was 
a  very  wealthy  man,  I  believe.  Now  he  has  died, 
and  she  is  a  gay  widow — quite  ready,  apparently, 
to  take  up  the  affair  with  Ridgeley  just  where  she 
left  it  off.  Of  course  he  cares  nothing  about  her 
now  ;  but  Bernadette  has  provoked  him,  and,  as  I 
have  said,  he  is  trying  the  stale  stratagem  to  make 
her  jealous  by  devoting  himself  to  Mrs.  Ellis. 
The  affair  may  serve  our  purpose  just  at  present ; 
for  I  have  quite  set  my  heart  on  a  day  in  that  Ar- 
cadian spot  I  remember  so  well.  Leave  me  to  pull 
the  strings    and  arrange  matters,  Mr.  Cameron  ; 


A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARCADY.  207 

and  only  hold  yourself  in  readiness  to  accompany 
us  when  everything  is  settled." 

To  this  Alan  willingly  agreed  ;  and  since  a  visit 
to  his  old  home  with  Bernadette  seemed  an  affair 
of  so  much  social  complication,  he  fully  expected 
it  to  end  on  the  spot  where  it  had  begun.  He  was 
very  much  surprised,  therefore,  when  on  the  fol- 
lowing day  Fay  accosted  him  gleefully  and  told 
him  that  all  was  arranged. 

"  Mamma  has  consented  for  us  to  go,"  she  re- 
marked ;  "  Mrs.  Ellis  has  agreed  to  chaperon  us, 
and  Ridgeley  has  been  brought  to  terms.  We 
mean  to  take  Mr.  Randolph  to  complete  the  party 
—nobody  else.  We  shall  go  on  the  morning  train, 
which  leaves  about  nine  o'clock — doesn't  it  ? — 
and  return  on  the  train  that  arrives  here  about  six 
in  the  evening.  That  will  give  us  a  long  day  to 
see  everything " 

"  Only  there  is  not  anything  to  see,"  interpo- 
lated Alan,  smiling. 

"  There  is  a  wild,  lovely  mountain  valley,  where 
the  world  seems  a  thousand  miles  away;  there  are 
views,  fishing — don't  tell  me  there  are  not  trout  in 
that  stream  I  remember  ! — the  old  home  for  Ber- 
nadette to  grow  sentimental  over,  and — and " 

"  The  spot  where  her  mother  was  killed,"  said 
Alan,  gravely. 

"  Oh!  "  the  gay  speaker  shrank  a  little.  "  Don't 
mention  that!  Why  should  we  think  of  sad 
things  when  thinking  can  do  no  good?     We  will 


208  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

take  a  hamper  of  lunch,  and — oh,  yes,  Ikneiv  there 
was  something  else  !  Are  you  sure,  Mr.  Cameron, 
that  we  can  find  any  conveyance  at  the  station  in 
which  to  drive  to  the  house  ?  " 

u  There  is  only  one  way  for  you  to  find  it,"  an- 
swered Alan,  smiling  into  the  pretty  face  uplifted 
in  anxious  inquiry  toward  his  own. 

And  that  is ?" 

"  For  me  to  go  over  the  day  before  and  have 
something  in  readiness  for  you." 

"  That  would  be  delightful  and  very  obliging  of 
you.     Will  you  go  to-morrow?' 

"I  am  entirely  at  your  command." 

"  Then  I  think  it  will  be  well  if  you  do  go  to- 
morrow. It  is  never  safe  to  put  off  things, — peo- 
ple are  so  apt  to  lose  interest  and  change  their 
minds.  Mrs.  Ellis,  especially,  would  certainly 
change  her  mind  if  anything  more  agreeable  pre- 
sented itself.  So  let  us  lose  no  time,  Mr.  Cameron, 
but  go  at  once." 

It  was  a  little  later  in  the  day  that  Alan  found 
an  opportunity  to  say  to  Bernadette :  "  Your 
cousin  has  ordered  me  to  go  over  to  the  old  place 
to-morrow,  and  have  a  conveyance  in  readiness 
for  your  party  at  the  station  the  day  after.  I  sup- 
pose there  is  not  likely  to  be  any  failure  in  the  ar- 
rangements ?  " 

"  I  suppose  not,"  she  answered,  a  little  doubt- 
full}'  ;  "  but  whatever  depends  on  the  caprices  of  so 
many   is    always    uncertain.      For   myself,'1    she 


A   LITTLE   MAID    OF   ARCADY.  209 

added  after  a  moment,  "  I  hardly  know  whether  I 
care  to  go  or  not.  I  should  like  of  all  things  to 
see  the  old  home  again,  if  I  could  see  it  alone ; 
but  with  all  these  people  there  will  be  little  pleas- 
ure in  it." 

"  Very  little,  I  fear,''  Alan  agreed  ;  "  but  life  is 
so  ordered  that  Ave  must  be  content  to  take  what 
we  can  get,  not  what  we  would  like  to  have.  AVe 
may  be  able  to  separate  ourselves  a  little  from  the 
rest  of  the  party,  and  see  some  of  our  old  haunts 
together.  The  mill,  I  hear,  is  at  present  idle,  and 
the  house  unoccupied." 

"  I  am  glad  of  that,"  she  said.  "  It  would  not 
seem  in  the  least  like  our  old  home  to  me  if  other 
people  were  living  in  it.  Well,  as  you  say,  we 
must  take  things  as  we  get  them  ;  and  this  way  of 
seeing  it  is  better  than  not  seeing  it  all.  So  go, 
dear  Alan,  make  your  arrangements ;  and  be  sure 
that  if  I  can  manage  it,  we  shall  all  be  there  with- 
out fail  day  after  to-morrow." 
14 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

"  O  Mr.  Cameron,  I  am  so  glad  to  see  you  !  " 

It  was  Miss  Chesselton  who  made  this  sincere 
remark,  as  the  party  consisting  of  three  ladies  and 
two  gentlemen  filed  out  of  the  train  to  the  narrow 
platform  of  the  edifice  known  as  Norms'  Station, 
and  gazed  rather  blankly  about  them  for  a  minute, 
before  Alan  made  his  appearance  around  the  cor- 
ner of  the  building. 

"  We  began  to  think  we  had  been  decoyed  as 
confiding  victims  into  this  cheerful  locality,'"  said 
Randolph,  laughing.  "  I  say,  Cameron,  what  kind 
of  conveyance  have  you  got  for  us  ?  I've  wager- 
ed that  well  have  to  drive  in  a  wagon  without 
springs,  or  else  have  recourse  to  that  delightful 
and  altogether  cheap  line  known  as  4  the  peoples' 
express.' " 

You  have  lust  your  wager,  then,"  said  Alan  ; 
and  it  serves  you  right  for  not  having  more  con- 
fidence in  me.  Come  and  see  what  I  have  got  for 
you." 

They  followed  him  in  the  direction  from  which 
he  had  come,  and  found  a  comfortable  spring 
wagon,  drawn  by  two  stout  bay  horses,  awaiting 
them. 

"Bravo!1     cried    Randolph,    while    the    ladies 
(210) 


U 

u 


A   LITTLE   MAID    OF   ARC  AD  Y.  211 

gave  a  murmur  of  approval.  "  You  are  a  trump, 
Cameron  !  I  never  saw  such  a  fellow  for  luck," 
he  went  on,  addressing  the  company.  "  It  is  the 
predatory  instinct  of  his  Highland  blood,  I  sup- 
pose,— but  he  always  succeeds  in  a  foraging  ex- 
pedition where  anybody  else  would  fail.  If  you 
had  sent  me  over  here,  I  should  probably  have  se- 
cured a  pair  of  oxen  and  a  cart  for  you." 

"You  forget  that  this  is  Mr.  Cameron's  native 
neighborhood,"  said  Chesselton,  in  his  quiet  voice. 
"  Of  course,  therefore,  he  knew  where  and  to 
whom  to  apply." 

"  Yes,"  said  Alan,  smiling  slightly  ;  "  we  are  in- 
debted to  an  old  friend  of  mine  for  this  accom- 
modation. Do  you  remember  Ben  Cryder,  Berna- 
dette?" 

"  Oh,  perfectly!  "  replied  Bernadette,  as  eagerly 
as  if  he  had  asked  her  if  she  remembered  a  de- 
scendant of  the  De  Rohans.  "  He  was  always  so 
kind  and  obliging.     Does  this  belong  to  him  ?  ' 

"  Yes,  and  was  lent  with  hearty  pleasure  when 
he  learned  that  it  was  for  'little  Bernadette.  ' 

"Ah,  that  makes  it  twice  as  pleasant  to  drive 
in  it ! '  said  she,  surveying  the  vehicle  with  a 
beaming  glance. 

To  say  that  Chesselton  was  disgusted  would  be 
to  say  very  little  indeed.  He  was  intensely  angry, 
both  with  Cameron  and  Bernadette.  How  dared 
the  first  to  suggest  such  remembrances !  How 
was  it  that  the  second  had  so  little  dignity  as  to 


212  A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARC  AD  Y. 

encourage  him !  Now,  with  all  his  faults,  the 
young  man  was  the  farthest  in  the  world  from  a 
snob,  and  it  must  be  said  in  his  justification  that 
it  was  not  with  the  humbleness  of  Bernadette's 
past  life  or  past  friends  that  he  found  fault.  The 
outrage  in  his  eyes  was  her  present  tone  of  in- 
timacy- with  Alan.  "  She  does  it  only  to  annoy 
me,"  he  thought,  angrily.  "  I  will  see  if  I  can't 
do  something  to  annoy  her  !  " 

With  this  laudable  resolution,  he  assisted  Mrs. 
Ellis  into  the  ambulance  which  honest  Ben  Cryder 
had  been  so  glad  to  lend  for  the  service  of  "  little 
Bernadette,"  and  took  his  seat  by  her  side.  Ran- 
dolph having  done  the  same  good  office  by  Fay 
Chesselton,  and  Bernadette  sharing  the  driver's 
seat  with  Alan — "  so  we  can  talk  over  all  the  old 
places,"  she  said, — they  set  forth,  jolting  slowly 
down  a  rocky  descent,  then  trotting  gayLv  for 
about  ten  minutes  over  a  moderately  smooth  road, 
with  a  flashing  mountain  stream  bearing  them 
company  on  one  side ;  then  up  a  toilsome  ascent, 
then  stopping  for  some  sight-seeing  and  exclama- 
tions over  "  a  beautiful  view  "  ;  then  more  rocks, 
more  jolting,  more  descending  and  ascending,  un- 
til at  last  Bernadette,  who  had  been  singularly 
silent,  and  conscious  of  an  uncomfortable  choking 
in  her  throat  at  every  wind  and  curve  of  the 
familiar  road,  suddenly  gave  a  little  Irysterical 
gasp,    which   meant,  "  I  would  cry  if  Mrs.  Ellis 


A  LITTLE  MAID   OF  AKCADY.  213 

was  not  behind  me,"  as  the  old  house  from  which 
she  had  parted  seven  years  before  rose  into  sight. 

"Let  me  get  out,  Alan,"  she  said  in  a  whisper 
when  they  reached  the  mill.  "  You  can  drive  the 
others  up  to  the  house,  but  I — I  would  like  to 
stay  here  a  little  while." 

"All  right,"  said  Alan,  pulling  up  the  horses, 
and  speaking  in  his  most  cheerful  tone.  "It's 
cool  and  pretty  here,  isn't  it?  As  soon  as  I  can 
get  rid  of  this  trap  I'll  come  down,  and  we  can 
look  at  the  old  places  together." 

He  flung  the  reins  to  Randolph,  who  was  be- 
hind him,  then  sprang  down  and  lifted  her  from 
her  seat.  He  saw  why  she  wished  to  be  left  when 
the  dark  eyes,  swimming  in  tears,  thanked  him  by 
a  look,  and  he  caught  a  glimpse  of  one  crystal 
drop  glittering  on  the  clear  rose  brilliance  of  her 
cheek.  He  was  conscious  of  a  desire  to  stoop  and 
kiss  this  drop  away  at  all  hazards ;  but,  for- 
tunately for  the  public  peace,  restrained  it ;  and, 
mounting  again  to  his  seat,  drove  sharply  away. 

"What  a  lovely  picture  it  makes !"  said  Fay 
Chesselton,  glancing  back  as  they  ascended  the 
hill.  "  And  Bernadette  is  just  the  adjunct  that  a 
painter  would  desire." 

It  was  a  lovely  picture  indeed  ;  they  all  thought 
that  as  they  looked  at  the  slender  figure  standing 
on  the  bridge, — the  waving  shadow  of  the  arching 
trees  overhead,  the  glinting  sunbeams,  the  spark- 
ling water,  the  silent  mill,  making  up  a  scene  of 


214  A  LITTLE   MAID    OF   ARC  AD  Y. 

quiet  yet  most  exquisite  beauty,  such  as  many  an 
artist  would  have  given  much  to  place  on  canvas. 

When  they  reached  the  house,  they  found  that 
Alan  had  been  there  before  them  ;  that  it  was  open 
and  clean,  even  containing  a  few  chairs  and  a 
small  mirror. 

"  I  call  this  the  very  height  of  consideration," 
said  Fay  Chesselton,  in  a  tone  of  warm  approval, 
as  she  immediately  walked  up  to  the  latter  and 
arranged  several  straying  locks  of  disheveled 
golden  hair. 

After  resting  a  short  time  they  began  to  scatter 
in  various  directions,  and,  as  is  almost  invariabl}7 
the  case,  were  paired  off  by  some  malicious  chance 
in  a  manner  exactly  contrary  to  the  wishes  of  most 
of  them.  This  game  of  cross-purposes  began  when 
Fay  and  Ridgeley  went  into  the  garden  to  see  the 
place  where  their  aunt  had  been  buried.  A  cross, 
bearing  a  suitable  inscription,  still  marked  the 
spot,  though  the  body  (or  rather  what  poor  remains 
of  mortaliy  could  be  found)  had  been  removed 
seven  years  before.  When  the}r  came  back,  they 
found  that  Randolph  and  Mrs.  Ellis  — compan- 
ions of  necessity,  since  neither  of  them  had  the 
least  fancy  for  the  other — had  wandered  out  to  a 
knoll  from  whence  a  magnificent  view  of  the  sur- 
rounding country  was  to  be  obtained  ;  while  Alan, 
having  just  finished  disposing  of  his  horses,  was 
about  to  go  down  to  Bernadette.  He  was  obliged 
to  restrain  his  impatience,  however,  when  these  two 


A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARCADY.  215 

came  sauntering  up.  But  it  was  hard  that  Fa}T, 
unable  to  comprehend  that  any  sane  man  could 
desire  to  be  rid  of  her  bright  face  and  sweet  voice, 
should  ask  him  to  take  her  to  the  knoll,  and  that 
he  should  be  obliged  to  comply  with  what  grace 
he  could  muster;  while  Chesselton  strolled  down 
to  the  stream,  secretly  glad  of  the  opportunity, 
and  quite  careless  of  the  fact  that  Mrs.  Ellis  was 
at  that  moment  straining  her  pretty  eyes  to  see  if 
he  was  not  coming  to  her  relief. 

Meanwhile  Bernaclette  had  not  spent  all  this 
time  standing,  like  a  girl  in  a  picture,  quite  mo- 
tionless on  the  bridge.  She  had  wandered  about, 
over  the  banks  and  around  the  mill,  meeting  at 
every  turn  some  ghost  of  her  past  happy  child- 
hood, and  of  the  love  which  had  made  it  bright- 
The  girl  felt  as  if  she  was  in  a  dream,  and  more 
than  once  touched  herself  to  make  quite  sure  that 
she  was  awake.  Was  the  past  or  the  present  real  ? 
Was  it  of  fancy  or  of  fact — that  wide  gulf  be- 
tween the  Now  and  the  Then  ?  Standing  in  a  cool, 
dark  nook — a  covert  of  green,  tangled  shade — 
near  the  mill,  gazing  down  on  the  clear,  unshad- 
owed waters  of  the  "race,"  with  not  a  sound  save 
the  fret  of  the  stream  in  her  ears,  it  was  not  very 
easy  to  answer  this  question.  There  was  some- 
thing of  enchantment  in  the  strange  quiet,  the  al- 
most pathetic  stillness,  of  the  scene.  The  fevered 
rush  of  the  little  world,  falsely  called  great,  seemed 
to  fade  from  her  memory,  the  breath  of  its  excite- 


216  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   AIICADY. 

me nt  to  leave  her  spirit.  Looking  up  at  the  grand 
mountains,  and  the  serene  sky  bending  over  them, 
noble  thoughts  and  tender  fancies  came  to  the  girl. 
Quick  and  impressionable  in  everything,  a  sudden 
wave  of  regret  for  her  frivolous  life  swept  over 
her. 

"  It  might  have  been  better  if  I  had  never  gone 
away,"  she  thought,  dropping  a  fern  leaf  on  the 
water  and  watching  it  slowly  and  lazily  sail  down 
stream. 

Just  then  some  one  called  her  name.  The  voice 
which  said  "  Bernadette  ,(  was  too  distant  for  her 
to  recognize  its  tone,  but  she  took  it  for  granted 
that  it  belonged  to  Alan. 

44  Here  I  am,"  she  answered,  and  sat  down  on  a 
cushion  of  moss  to  wait  his  coming. 

She  could  not  help  the  change  of  expression 
which  came  over  her  face  when  Chesselton  ap- 
peared. It  was  more  surprise  than  disappoint- 
ment, though  he  chose  to  construe  it  entirely  as 
the  last.  But  when  one  is  confidently  expecting 
a  certain  person,  and  a  very  different  person  who 
is  not  expected  appears,  how  is  it  possible  to  keep 
one's  tell-tale  features  from  exhibiting  a  little  of 
that  emotion  commonly  known  as  astonishment? 
It  is  in  the  nature  of  men  to  be  unreasonable, 
however — especially  when  they  are  in  love, — and 
Chesselton  proved  very  unreasonable  on  this  oc- 
casion. 

44  It  is  evident  I  am  not  the  person  you  were 


A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARC  AD  Y.  217 

expecting,  Bernadette,"  lie  said,  stopping  short. 
"  Perhaps  I  had  better  go  back  and  send  Mr.  Cam- 
eron to  share  your  meditations?" 

"  You  are  certainly  not  the  person  I  was  expect- 
ing," answered  Bernadette,  rendered  somewhat 
indignant  by  the  gauntlet  thus  causelessly  thrown 
down.  "  But  I  don't  see  why  you  should  take  it 
for  granted  that  I  am  sorry  to  see  you,  Ridgeley." 

"  Don't  you  ? "  said  Ridgeley,  a  little  grimly. 
"  That  is  because  you  were  not  able  to  enjoy  the 
expression  of  your  own  face,  then." 

"  My  face  does  not  usually  say  what  is  not  true," 
laughed  she,  passing  her  hand  across  it.  "  Come, 
Ridgeley,  please  don't  quarrel.  You  can  not  im- 
agine in  what  a  softened  and  charitable  mood  I 
feel — almost  as  if  I  had  been  to  church, —  quite  as 
if  nothing  could  ruffle  me." 

"Such  a  frame  of  mind  is  so  unusual  with  you 
that  it  certainly  tempts  one  to  stay  and  enjoy  it," 
said  he,  coming  a  few  steps  nearer. 

"  Sit  down,"  said  she,  pointing  to  the  moss  which 
spread  its  soft,  inviting  carpet  all  around.  u  Isn't 
it  still  and  lovely  and  solemn  here?  Look  at  the 
beautiful  blending  of  color  everywhere.  Wouldn't 
that  dear  old  mill  be  a  study  for  an  artist  ?  I  don't 
wonder  artists  are  so  fond  of  mills.  And,  then, 
the  water — isn't  it  like  crystal  ?  " 

"I  would  give  a  great  deal  for  a  picture  of  you 
as  you  sit  there,"  said  Ridgeley,  looking  at  her 
with  eyes  full  of  passionate  admiration.     "  How 


218  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   AUCADY. 

it  puts  me  in  mind  of  the  first  day  I  met  you !  " 
he  went  on.  "  Good  Heavens!  what  a  fool  I  have 
been  about  you  ever  since  that  time  !  " 

She  looked  up  at  him  with  something  very  wist- 
ful in  the  glance  of  her  dark  eyes.  "I  know," 
she  said,  gentl}',  "  that  you  have  cared  forme  more 
than  I  deserved;  and  I  w^ish  for  your  sake  that 
you  had  never  seen  me  on  that  clay  or  any  other." 

He  grew  suddenly  pale.  u  Why  do  you  wish 
that,  Bernadette?'  he  asked,  in  a  quick,  vibrant 
tone. 

"  Because,"  she  answered,  "  I  would  not  then 

have  been  a    source    of  pain  to  you,  as  I  know  I 

have  been,  and  " — her  voice  faltered  a  little — 
"  must  be." 

Notwithstanding  her  invitation  of  a  moment 
before,  he  had  remained  standing ;  but  he  now  sat 
down  on  the  root  of  a  large  tree  that  overshad- 
owed them,  and,  being  thus  on  a  level  with  her, 
looked  steadily  into  her  face. 

"What  do  you  mean  by  this?'  he  asked.  "If 
you  have  been  a  source  of  pain  to  me,  you  know 
well  that  you  have  also  been  a  source  of  happi- 
ness ;  and  it  rests  with  yourself  wdiether  you  will 
be  entirely  a  source  of  happiness — the  greatest 
happiness — in  the  future." 

"  No,  Riclgeley,"  she  said,  while  a  mistiness  as 
of  sudden  tears  came  into  her  eyes  at  his  last 
words.  "  You  are  mistaken  :  it  does  not  rest  with 
me.     If  it  did,  I  should  be  tempted  to  do  as  you 


A  LITTLE   MAID   OF    ARC  AD  Y.  21 9 

wish.  Bat  no  matter  how  much  I  desired  and 
tried  to  make  }rou  happy,  I  am  sure  that  I  could 
never  succeed." 

"  Since  when  have  you  been  sure  of  that  ?  '  he 
asked,  with  his  eyes  beginning  to  burn  ominously. 

She  hesitated  a  moment  before  replying.  Then 
she  said,  in  a  low  tone:  "I  have  felt  it  for  some 
time,  but  I  have  not  been  sure  of  it  until — lately." 

"  Until,  in  short,  the  arrival  on  the  scene  of  the 
companion  of  your  youth,"  he  remarked,  in  a  tone 
so  bitter  that  it  cut  like  the  stroke  of  a  whip. 
"  Don't  trouble  }Tourself  to  make  explanations. 
We  were  fools  to  think  that  the  effects  of  such 
early  training  as  yours  could  ever  be  eradicated. 
Coarseness  suits  you  better  than  refinement  even 
yet ;  and  no  one  has  such  influence  over  you  as 
this  unlettered,  uncultured — " 

M  Stop  !  "  said  Bernadette,  her  eyes  shining  now. 
"If  you  do  not  wish  to  make  me  despise  you, 
stop  !  What  you  think  of  Alan  matters  nothing. 
Don't  mention  his  name  again ;  but  listen  to  what 
I  have  to  tell  you, — what  I  was  weak  enough  to 
shrink  from  telling,  but  which  you  have  now  given 
me  strength  to  say.  You  know  well  that  I  have 
never  told  you  that  I  loved  you.  I  have  tried 
hard  to  think  that  I  did,  because  I  knew  it  would 
please  not  only  you  but  everyone  else  ;  but  I  never 
felt  it ;  and  I  have  been  as  certain,  or  almost  as 
certain,  as  I  am  now  that  I  never  would  feel  it. 
For  there  is  no  sympathy  between  us.     The  things 


220  A   LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

I  feel  mcst  deeply  you  do  not  feel  at  all ;  and  we 
have  not  only  a  different  religion,  but  we  are 
within  the  degrees  of  kindred  when  marriage  is 
forbidden,  without  such  cause  as  we  could  not  ad- 
vance. Therefore  I  have  determined  to  tell  you 
what  might  as  well  be  told  now  as  later — that  I 
cannot  marry  you,  and  that  I  hope  you  will  not 
think  of  it  any  more." 

There  was  a  moment's  silence,  and  then  Ridge- 
ley  Chesselton  threw  his  head  back  and  laughed. 
Now,  there  is  no  sound  so  indicative  of  the  ex- 
tremity of  anger  as  so  harsh  and  mirthless  a  laugh 
as  this.  Bernadette  shivered.  It  told  her  better 
even  than  imprecations  could  have  done  how  in- 
tense was  the  rage  in  her  companion's  heart,  and 
how  deep  his  disappointment. 

"  You  hope  I  will  not  think  of  it  again  !  "  he 
said.  "  How  kind  !  I  wish  to  God  that  I  might 
never  think  of  it  or  of  you  ever  again  !  You  are 
as  heartless  as  }'0ii  are  deceitful.  You  know  well 
that  you  have  given  me  pledges,  understood  if  not 
expressed,  which  would  be  binding  to  any  hon- 
orable woman.  But  they  do  not  bind  yon,  who 
can  even  make  your  religion  an  excuse  for 
treachery.  When  have  you  ever  before  said  or 
thought  anything  of  our  differences  of  religion 
or  forbidden  degrees  of  kindred,  or  anything  of 
the  sort?" 

"  That  was  because  I  had  grown  very  careless 
and  did  not  indeed  think  of  such  things,"   said 


A   LITTLE    MAID    OF    AECADY.  221 

Bernadette,  in  a  tone  of  deep  humility, — for  here 
she  felt  that  he  had  a  right  to  reproach  her.  "  But 
I  have  lately  begun  to  think ;  and  I  met  an  old 
priest  whom  I  knew  in  my  childhood,  and — " 

"  And  some  one  else  whom  you  knew  in  your 
childhood,"  he  interrupted,  with  the  same  bitter, 
unmirthful  laugh.  "  I  understand,  the  situation 
perfectly.  The  sudden  awakening  of  your  con- 
science is  remarkably  coincident  with  the  arrival 
of  the  person  who  is  probably  to  profit  by  this 
awakening.  You  have  a  sentimental  idea  that  you. 
would  like  to  become  a  miller's  daughter  again, 
or  to  play  Queen  Cophetua  to  a — " 

"  Ridgeley  !  "  she  cried  passionately,  as  a  tide 
of  angry  color  swept  over  her  face, — "  Ridgeley, 
how  dare  you — " 

And  then  she  stopped ;  for  there  before  them 
stood  Alan  Cameron.  The  young  man  had  ap- 
proached unobserving  as  well  as  unobserved,  un- 
til he  was  close  upon  them, — so  close  that  he 
could  not  easily  retreat,  although  he  saw  at  once 
that  theirs  was  a  conversation  on  which  it  would 
not  have  been  well  to  intrude.  Bernadette's  last 
words  alone  met  his  ear  ;  but  her  tone,  her  look, 
spoke  more  eloquently  than  words.  And  as 
she  paused  suddenly  at  sight  of  him,  Chesselton 
turning  saw  him  also,  and  rose  at  once  to  his  feet. 
At  this  moment  he  was  conscious  chiefly  of  a 
sense  of  fierce  satisfaction.  The  savage  instinct 
of  the   natural   man  overpowered  every  other  in- 


222  A  LITTLE  MAID   OF  ARCADY. 

stinct,  natural  or  acquired,  and  made  him  feel 
that  the  only  pleasure  life  offered  him  at  this  mo- 
ment was  the  pleasure  of  quarrelling  with,  insulting 
and  if  possible  fighting  Alan  Cameron.  Looking 
back  afterward,  he  could  hardly  realize  this  state 
of  mind,  as  looking  forward  he  would  certainly 
not  haye  believed  it  possible.  But  there  are  few 
men  whose  passions  are  so  entirely  under  the 
dominion  of  reason  that  they  can  not  recall  some 
hour  or  time  when  there  was  such  an  awakening 
of  the  savage  within  them.  So,  with  a  look  which 
was  in  itself  an  insult,  he  turned  upon  the  new- 
comer. 

"  Mr.  Cameron,"  he  said,  "  has  probably  heard 
an  old  proverb  regarding  listeners.  If  it  has 
proved  true  in  the  present  case,  I  can  not  say 
that  I  regret  it.  It  is  well  that  he  should  know 
my  opinion  of  his  conduct." 

"Alan,"  cried  Bernadette,  who  saw  that  appeal 
t>  Ridge! ey  was  useless,  "do  not  heed  him!  He 
does  not  know  what  he  is  saying." 

"  Never  fear,  Bernadette,"  replied  Alan,  quietly. 
'•  I  have  no  intention  of  quarrelling  with  Mr. 
Chesselton.  I  heard  nothing,"  he  added,  turning 
to  that  gentleman  ;  "  for  I  have  only  this  instant 
arrived.  But  had  I  done  so,  your  opinion  is  of 
no  importance  to  me.  I  came  here  expecting  to 
find  Bernadette  alone." 

"And  so  continue  your  work  of  interference 
between  her  and — " 


A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   AECADY.  223 

"  Ridgeley,"  said  Bernadette,  starting  up  and 
standing,  flushed  and  indignant,  at  Alan's  side, 
"I  will  not  allow  you  to  say  another  word  in  my 
presence.  You  shall  not  insult  Alan  for  what  is 
no  fault  of  his — for  what  would  have  been  the 
same    if    he    did   not   exist.     Alan,    come   with 

me!" 

She  spoke  half  beseechingly,  half  imperiously, 
and  moved  as  she  spoke  toward  the  bridge.  Alan, 
nowise  loath,  was  about  to  follow  her,  when  Ches- 
selton  stepped  before  him. 

"You  can  if  you  like  shelter  yourself  at  pres- 
ent behind  a  woman's  presence,"  he  said,  his  face 
pale,  his  eyes  gleaming  with  the  passion  that  pos- 
sessed him;  "  but  if  you  have  the  least  concep- 
tion of  what  constitutes  a  gentleman,  you  will  at 
another  time  acknowledge  and  answer  for  your  in- 
terference." 

"I  never  shirk  the  consequences  of  anything 
that  I  have  done,  Mr.  Chesselton,"  said  Alan, 
pausing  and  regarding  him  calmly;  "but  I  have 
nothing  to  acknowledge  to  you,  nor  yet  to  answer 
for." 

Again  Chesselton  uttered  that  laugh,  the  ut- 
most expression  of  anger,  which  had  already  so 
jarred  upon  Bernadette ;  and  this  time  it  had  to 
Alan's  ear  a  ring  of  scorn  inexpressibly  offensive. 

"  I  should  have  remembered,"  said  Ridgeley, 
turning  upon  his  heel,  "  that  one  does  not  expect 
to  find  a  very  keen  sense  of  honor  or  a  very  high 


224  A   LITTLE   MAID    OF   ARCADY. 

degree  of    courage   in   one    who  has  neither   the 
birth  nor  the  training  of  a  gentleman.'' 

Alan  made  one  quick  step  after  him  as  lie 
strode  away ;  but  Bernadette  was  upon  him  like  a 
flash,  her  hands  clinging  around  his  arm.  "Alan, 
Alan,"  she  cried,—"  for  my  sake  ! '  And  then, 
as  Chesselton  with  rapid  steps  passed  out  of  sight, 
she  laid  her  head  down  on  the  arm  she  was  hold- 
ing and  burst  into  tears. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

The  most  artful  of  women  could  have  done 
nothing  better  to  have  detained  the  young  man, 
whose  patience  and  forbearance  had  at  last  given 
way.  But  there  was  no  thought  of  its  possible 
effect  in  Bernadette's  outburst.  Anger  and  grief 
were  mingled  in  those  passionate  tears,  which 
almost  frightened  Alan  by  their  vehemence ;  for 
even  in  her  childhood  he  had  seldom  seen  her 
weep,  and  he  knew  that  the  emotion  must  be  very 
great  which  found  expression  in  this  manner. 
His  attempts  to  soothe  her  were  for  a  few  min- 
utes unheeded.  Then  at  last  came  some  con- 
nected words,  which  told  where  the  sting  of 
bitterness  lay. 

"  O  Alan,"  she  sobbed,  "  to  think  that  you 
should  have  been  so  insulted — by  one  of  my  peo- 
ple— here  !  " 

"  My  dear,"  said  Alan,  putting  his  arm  gently 
around  her,  while  he  patted  her  on  the  shoulder 
as  if  she  had  still  been  a  child,  "is  it  for  thought 
of  me  that  you  are  crying  your  heart  out?  Stop, 
stop — and  listen  to  me  !  Your  cousin's  insolence 
angered  me  for  one  moment,  but  no  more.  What 
is  he  to  me  ?  Absolutely  nothing,  except  so  far 
as  he  has  the  power  to  wound  you.  And,  besides, 
15  (225) 


226  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

I  knew  that  he  was  not  master  of  himself,  and 
hardly  accountable  for  what  he  said." 

"  He  turned  upon  you  because  I  had  at  last 
been  candid  with  him  and  told  him  I  could  not 
marry  him,"  said  Bernadette,  lifting  her  tear- 
stained  face.  "  He  believes  that  you  have  in- 
fluenced me.  He  is  terribly  angry.  I  am  afraid 
that  he  will  insult  you  again,  and  perhaps  in  a 
worse  manner,  if  that  be  possible." 

"  No,"  said  Alan.  "  Set  your  mind  at  rest.  I 
will  not  allow  him  to  insult  me,  and  T  will  not 
gratify  his  present  humor  hy  quarrelling  with 
him  either.  Trust  me,  Bernadette.  I  will  manage 
this  affair  so  that  it  shall  not  annoy  you  further. 
And  then,  dear,  the  best  thing  I  can  do  is  to  go 
away;  for  I  have  only  troubled  your  life  by  com- 
ing into  it." 

"  You  troubled  my  life  !  O  Alan  !  "  cried  Ber- 
nadette, with  a  fresh  rush  of  tears.  "  How  can 
you  say  such  a  thing?  I  can  never  tell  you  how 
much  good  you  have  done  me.  Why,  if  you  had 
not  come  and  made  me  think  of  things  I  had  for- 
gotten, I  might  have  married  Ridgeley;  and  I 
know  now  that  if  I  had  clone  so,  I  should  have 
been  miserable  all  my  life." 

"  Then  thank  God  that  I  did  come,"  answered 
Alan.  "  But,  all  the  same,  it  is  now  time  for  me 
to  go.     There  are  many  reasons  for  that." 

He  paused  a  moment,  and  looked  over  her  head 
at   the   great   mountains   that   rose   above   them 


A  LITTLE  MAID    OF   AECADY.  227 

against  the  deep-blue  sky.  It  was  as  if  he  sought 
strength  to  tread  some  difficult  path,  from  the 
aspect  of  those  heights  that  to  the  fainting  soul 
are  often  full  of  the  suggestion  of  other  spiritual 
heights,  on  which  lies  the  supreme  peace  of  God. 
But  in  that  moment's  pause  a  sound  of  approach- 
ing voices,  of  light,  careless  laughter,  floated  down 
to  them  from  the  path  that  descended  from  the 
house  to  the  mill,  and  Bernadette  started. 

"There  are  people  coming,"  she  said.  "Fay 
and  Mr.  Randolph,  I  think.  Let  us  go  where,  for 
a  time  at  least,  no  one  can  find  us." 

Alan  followed  her  quick  footsteps  as  she  darted 
rapidly  across  the  bridge  and  took  the  old,  unfor- 
gotten  way  that  led  around  the  base  of  the  great 
hills  into  that  green  and  lovel}7  glen,  where,  on 
another  summer  day  long  before,  the  great  rail- 
road tragedy  had  occurred.  Once  out  of  sight 
and  sound,  her  pace  grew  slower,  and,  presently 
turning,  she  held  out  her  hand  to  him  with  the 
gesture  of  a  child. 

"  I  can  not  remember  that  I  ever  came  here 
without  you,"  she  said.  "  When  I  was  a  little 
thing  you  always  brought  me,  leading  me  hand  in 
hand.  How  good  you  always  were  to  me,  Alan! 
Many  a  boy  would  have  been  rough  and  unkind ; 
but  I  never  liked  to  be  with  any  one,  not  even 
with  mother,  so  much  as  with  you.  The  picture 
I  have  of  myself  in  those  days  is  of  always  trotting 


228  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

about  after  you  like  a  little  clog.  But  you  always 
led  me  when  we  came  here." 

Alan's  heart  was  too  full  for  speech  with  the 
memory  of  the  days  of  which  she  spoke,  as  he 
took  the  hand  she  extended ;  and  so,  walking 
again  as  in  their  childhood,  they  entered  the  glen 
together.  There  was  no  difficulty  in  finding  the 
spot  they  both  knew  well ;  for  the  great  bowlders 
marked  it  now  as  then.  Now  as  then  they  knelt 
down  and  prayed  for  the  soul  of  her  who  had  here 
passed  so  swiftly  and  terribly  from  life  to  death ; 
and  then,  rising,  sat  down  on  one  of  the  masses 
of  stone  and  looked  at  each  other.  It  was  again 
Bernadette  who  spoke  first. 

"  Do  you  remember  the  last  time  that  we  were 
here?'  she  asked.  "I  had  forgotten  until  now, 
when  it  comes  back  as  clearly  as  yesterday.  You 
were  scolding  me  for  wanting  to  know  who  and 
what  I  was.  You  said  it  would  lead  to  discontent 
with  my  life,  and  I — foolish  creature  that  I  was ! 
— insisted  that  I  only  wanted  to  ~knou\  and  then 
would  be  satisfied.  Well,  I  was  punished  by 
knowing  very  shortly  after  that."  She  paused  a 
moment  and  sighed.  "I  sometimes  think  Ridge- 
ley  has  been  my  evil  genius,"  she  said.  "  If  he 
had  not  found  me,  I  might  be  here  yet,  contented 
and  happy." 

Alan  smiled  slightly.  "Contented!"  he  said. 
"No,  Bernadette.  I,  too,  remember  that  last  day 
when  we  were  here,  and  how  far  from  contented 


A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARCADY.  229 

you  were, — that  is,  how  naturally  anxious  to 
know  something  of  the  beginning  of  your  life. 
And,  as  time  went  on,  this  desire  would  have 
grown  greater;  while  as  for  happiness — the  simple 
existence  which  satisfied  you  as  a  child  would  not 
have  made  you  happy  as  you  grew  older.  It  was 
bitter  to  lose  you,  but  I  at  least  have  always  rec- 
ognized that  it  was  better;  and  if  I  had  ever 
doubted  it,  what  I  have  seen  of  you  lately  would 
convince  me." 

"  You  mean,"  said  Bernadette,  with  tears  rising 
again  in  her  eyes,  "  that  you  find  me  so  worldly 
that  you  think — and  I  do  not  blame  you  for  it — 
that  nothing  except  a  worldly  life  would  satisfy 
me.  But  I  am  not  at  heart  so  worldly  as  I  seem," 
she  continued,  looking  at  him  with  something  like 
reproach.  "  You  misjudged  me,  Alan,  in  that  old 
day,  and  you  misjudge  me  now.  You  thought  me 
then  discontented  and  dissatisfied — " 

"  No,"  Alan  interposed :  "  I  only  feared  that 
you  might  become  so." 

"  And  you  think  me  now  so  frivolous  and 
worldly,"  she  pursued,  unheeding  him,  "  that  you 
do  not  believe  me  capable  of  finding  any  happi- 
ness in  simple  things ;  and  you  are  glad — O  Alan, 
Alan! — that  I  was  taken  away  from  you  all,  from 
the  dear  old  life  that  I  would  give  anything  to  go 
back  to — " 

Her  voice  broke,  she  could  say  no  more ;  and 
Alan,    overcome    with    self-reproach,    could   only 


230  A   LITTLE  MAID   OF   AECADY. 

lean  forward  and,  taking  her  hand  again,  beg  her 
not  to  misunderstand  him. 

"  My  dear  little  sister,"  he  said,  striving  to 
steady  his  own  emotions  by  that  name,  "do  not 
misjudge  me  and  my  meaning  so  much !  You 
were  always  true  as  steel  and  loyal  as  God's  own 
daylight,  and  I  shall  never  forget  the  sweet  kind- 
ness with  which  you  have  met  and  treated  me, — 
never !  It  has  made  me  proud  of  you,  my  Berna- 
dette, — proud  to  see  how  the  ring  of  sterling  gold 
still  comes  forth  from  your  character.  But  I 
think — nay,  I  am  sure — that  you  have  that  in  you 
which,  as  years  went  on,  would  have  unfitted  you 
for  the  life  we  lived  here  ;  and  in  saying  that  your 
present  life  suits  you,  I  only  mean  that  its  best 
possibilities  suit  you,  and  that  you  will  rise  to 
them,  I  am  sure." 

Bernadette  shook  her  head  sadly.  "  I  don't 
feel  any  capabilities  of  rising  to  anything,  Alan," 
she  said.  "  The  only  possibilities  in  my  life  as  it 
is  ordered  at  present  are  possibilities  of  frivolity. 
Of  course,  if  I  were  a  stronger  and  better  person, 
I  could  order  my  life  differently ;  but  I  am  not  so 
strong  that  I  can  resist  and  put  away  things  that 
I  like  as  I  like  pleasure  and  gayety.  No,  you 
may  not  believe  me,  but  all  the  same  it  is  true — 
the  life  I  left  here  was  the  life  that  suited  me 
best;  and  if  I  could  I  would  go  to  Scotland,  to 
mother  and  father,  to-morrow." 

Alan's  heart  gave  so  great  a  leap  that  almost 


A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARCADY.  231 

unconsciously  lie  pressed  his  arm  upon  it  with  a 
strong  repressing  motion.  It  was  an  instant  be- 
fore he  could  say  quietly,  yet  with  a  ring  of  sad- 
ness in  his  voice  : 

"You  would  make  them  very  happy,  Berna- 
dette ;  but  happy  yourself? — no,  my  dear,  }ou 
would  not  be  that.  Just  now  things  have  worried 
and  fretted  you ;  you  are  not  very  satisfied  with 
your  life ;  and  you  think  that  because  the  old 
days  were  happy,  you  would  like  to  leave  all  and 
go  back  to  them.  But  that  is  impossible, — not 
only  because  '  the  mill  can  never  grind  again  with 
the  water  that  is  past,'  but  because  }Tears  of  an- 
other and  totally  different  life  have  deepened  cer- 
tain characteristics  which  as  a  bo}r  I  dimly  felt  in 
you,  and  which  I  know  now  to  have  been  the  note 
of  your  difference  from  us." 

u  I  know  only  one  difference,"  said  Bernadette, 
"  and  that  is  that  I  was  not  and  am  not  half  so  good 
as  any  of  you.  But  I  don't  think  that  should 
be  a  reason  for  casting  me  off." 

"Casting  you  off!'  repeated  Alan;  and,  little 
as  laughter  was  in  his  heart,  he  laughed  at  this. 
44  Why  do  you  so  willfully  misunderstand  me  ? r 
he  asked  then,  seriously  enough.  "  You  know  well 
wdiat  I  mean  and  what  I  am  trying  to  say.  To 
put  it  briefly  and  plainh',  it  is  this  :  You  were  born 
and  fitted  by  nature  for  a  different  life  from  any 
that  we  were  able  to  give  you ;  and  it  was  well 
that  the  possibility  of  living  this  life  came  to  you 


232  A   LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARC  AD  Y. 

in  time,  even  though^  it  rent  our  very  hearts  to 
part  with  you.  I  never  had  but  one  doubt  about 
your  new  life — I  mean  its  fitness  for  you  and  its 
effect  on  you, — and  that  was  whether  the  world 
might  not  change  you,  as  it  sometimes  changes 
people.  But  I  had  no  sooner  met  you  than  I  saw 
that  there  was  no  fear  of  that.  You  accuse  your- 
self of  frivolity  and  love  of  pleasure;  but  you  for- 
get that  you  are  young,  and  that  gayety  of  heart 
is  your  birthright.  All  this  is  but  the  froth  on 
the  surface  of  your  nature,  while  underneath  are 
the  jewels  of  loyalty  and  tenderness  and  steadfast 
adherence  to  what  you  know  to  be  right — " 

"  Alan,  Alan,  you  think  too  well  of  me  !  "  she 
cried,  as  she  had  cried  before.  But  Alan  went  on, 
unheeding : 

"  And  so  I  have  no  fear  of  your  future,  Berna- 
dette.  The  child  who  kept  her  faith  amid  all  the 
adverse  influences  that  surrounded  you,  will  keep  it 
to  the  end.  And  that  will  be  your  safeguard. 
Just  now,  as  I  have  said,  you  are  vexed  and  dis- 
satisfied, because  a  discord  has  entered  into  your 
life  ;  but  that  will  pass  away." 

"  Yes,  everything  passes  away,  if  we  only  wait 
long  enough,"  said  Bernadette,  rising  with  an  ab- 
rupt movement.  "  There  is  no  doubt  of  that. 
Thank  you  for  feeling  so  philosophical  about  it, 
Alan.  You  have  made  your  sentiments  very  clear, 
and  I  understand  fully  that  you  think  I  am  where 
I  belong,  and  that  Arcadia  is  no  longer  any  place 


A   LITTLE    MAID    OF    ARC  AD  Y  233 

for  me.  Well,  that  being  made  clear,  shall  we  go 
now  ?  No  doubt  the  others  are  wondering  where 
we  are." 

"Bernadette!5  Alan  could  hardly  believe  his 
ears;  for  never  had  Bernadette  spoken  in  such  a 
tone  to  him  before.  That  he  had  offended  her  he 
perceived  plainly,  but  his  masculine  obtuseness 
prevented  his  perceiving  that  he  had  wounded  her 
besides.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  girl  felt  strangelv 
repulsed,  and,  as  it  were,  put  out  of  the 
lives  of  those  to  whom  she  had  ever  felt  nearer 
than  to  her  kindred  of  blood  ;  and  this  at  the  time 
and  in  the  place  where  her  heart  opened  most 
warmly  toward  those  older  ties  of  love  and  grati- 
tude, and  where  anything  savoring  of  repulse 
from  such  a  quarter  came  with  a  keen  intensity  and 
power  to  wound  derived  from  every  association  of 
the  past. 

"  Bernadette  ! '  Alan  repeated,  as  he  saw  that 
she  did  not  look  at  him,"  can  it  be  possible  that 
I  have  offended  you?  Do  you  not  see  that  I  am 
trying  to  think  of  3^011 — of  you  only  ?  If  I  thought 
of  myself — but  I  dare  not  do  that,"  he  broke  off, 
in  a  voice  husky  with  passion. 

But,  repressed  as  it  was,  the  note  of  passion 
struck  on  Bernadette's  ear,  as  the  hand  of  a  mas- 
ter strikes  the  chords  of  a  violin,  and  all  her  na- 
ture seemed  to  rise  in  answer  to  it.  She  did  not 
know  what  it  was  in  those  few  words  that  stirred 


234  A  LITTLE  MAID   OF    ARCADY. 

her  so  deeply,  but  she  turned  with  a  swift,  eager 
motion,  that  took  Alan  wholly  by  surprise. 

"Why  should  you  not  think  of  yourself?"  she 
demanded,  imperiously.  "  Who  has  a  better  right 
to  do  so  ?  And  what  do  you  mean  by  saying  that 
you  think  of  me  only  ?  How  dare  you  attempt  to 
think  for  me — to  decide  whether  this  or  that  life 
is  best  for  me,  as  if  vou  were  Providence  ?  God 
alone  knows  these  things;  and,  after  God,  Jam  the 
judge  of  what  is  best  for  me  and  most  according 
to  my  own  heart." 

She  faced  him  with  eyes  alight  with  lovely  fire, 
and  lips  curling  with  an  indignation  of  which  she 
did  not  herself  understand  the  source.  That 
Alan  did  not  understand  it  was  perhaps  not  strange. 
Her  rebuke  was  most  unexpected  ;  but  he  re- 
ceived it  with  a  humility  which  belonged  to 
himself,  and  a  lack  of  comprehension  which,  in  the 
situation,  nine  men  out  of  ten  would  have  dis- 
played. 

"  Forgive  me  ! '  he  answered.  "  You  are  right. 
I  have  been  persumptuous  in  talking  so  decidedly 
about  these  things.  But  it  was  because  all  that 
concerns  you  lies  so  near  my  heart  that  I  have 
thought  much  of  them;  and  honest  opinion — well, 
the  expression  of  that  can  not  harm,  you  know, 
and  ought  not  to  offend." 

"  Offend ! "  repeated  Bernadette,  all  her  fire  sud- 
denly dying  out.  "  Why  should  such  a  word  be 
mentioned  between  you  and  me,  Alan  ?     Is  it  my 


A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY.  235 

fault?  Have  I  lost  temper,  as  I  often  used  to  do, 
you  know?  Many  a  time  you  made  me  lose  it  be- 
cause you  were  so  sensible,  and  I  fear  the  same 
cause  has  had  the  same  effect  now.  You  are  as 
sensible  as  ever  in  what  you  have  said  of  me,  and 
I  had  no  right  to  be  vexed.  No  doubt  the  life  I 
am  leading  does  suit  me  better  than  the  old  happy 
one  among  these  hills, — at  least  that  is  your  belief ; 
so  we  will  never  say  another  word  about  it.  Come 
now,  we  must  go." 

What  could  Alan  answer  ?  There  seemed  noth- 
ing left  for  him  to  say.  But  when  they  turned 
away,  Bernadette  no  longer  put  out  her  hand  as 
in  her  childhood ;  and  indeed  there  was  a  feel- 
ing in  the  hearts  of  both  that  as  they  left  the  glen 
they  left  also  the  days  of  their  childhood  finally 
and  forever  behind  them. 


CHAPTER  X. 

It  was  while  this  conversation  was  in  progress  in 
the  glen  that  the  rest  of  the  party,  attracted  by 
a  singular  and  deepening  smokiness  of  the  atmos- 
phere, had  gone  over  again  to  the  knoll  near  the 
house  to  see  if  they  could  ascertain  its  cause.  At 
least  Fay,  Mrs.  Ellis,  and  Randolph  went  for  that 
reason  ;  while  Chesselton  accompanied  them  ap- 
parently for  no  reason  at  all,  except  that  their 
company  was  perhaps  a  shade  less  boring  than 
his  own. 

"  I  have  noticed  it  ever  since  we  left  the  station," 
Randolph  observed  of  the  smokiness ;  "  but  it 
did  not  occur  to  me  for  some  time  what  it  meant. 
It  is  plain  enough  now,  however.  It  means  forest 
fires  in  the  mountains." 

"  I  have  always  thought  I  should  like  to  see  a 
great  forest  fire,  especially  in  the  mountains," 
said  Fay.  "  How  far  off  is  it,  do  you  think,  Mr. 
Randolph  ?  " 

"  Oh,  pretty  far  ! '  answered  Randolph,  vague- 
ly. "  I  am  not  familiar  with  this  country,  you 
know.  When  Cameron  comes  he  can,  no  doubt, 
place  it  for  us  exactly." 

"  Where  is  Mr.  Cameron  ?  "  asked  Mrs.  Ellis. 
(236) 


A   LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARC  AD  Y.  237 

"  He  and  Mademoiselle  Bernadette  seem  to  have 
disappeared  mysteriousl}7." 

;tNot  at  all  mysteriously,"  replied  Fay,  quickly. 
"  They  have  gone,  I  am  sure,  to  the  place  where 
Bernadette's  mother  was  killed.  Naturally  she 
did  not  care  to  take  the  whole  party  with  her 
there" 

"How  interesting  the  story  is  !  "  Mrs.  Ellis  was 
beginning,  in  a  sentimental  tone,  when  Randolph 
interrupted  her. 

"  Yonder  they  are  now — coming  from  the  mill," 
he  said.  "  Hallo !  " — he  waved  his  arm  in  a  beck- 
oning gesture.  "  Come  up  here !  We  want 
you." 

His  voice  rang  out  like  a  trumpet ;  and,  so  ad- 
jured, Alan  and  Bernadette,  both  looking  rather 
pale  and  grave,  made  their  appearance  on  the 
knoll. 

"We  want  to  know  the  meaning  of  all  this 
smoke,"  said  Randolph  then.  "  There  must  be  a 
fire,  and  a  large  one,  somewhere  about." 

"There  has  been  a  fire  in  these  mountains  for 
some  da}rs,"  answered  Alan.  "  I  was  staying  with 
Cryder  last  night,  whose  house  is  at  the  foot  of 
Hantzel's  Knob — that  tall,  round  old  fellow  yon- 
der,— and  we  made  the  ascent  after  nightfall.  I 
never  saw  a  more  magnificent  sight  in  my  life. 
As  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  the  mountains  to 
the  southwest  were  in  flames ;  and  so  they  have 


238  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

been  for  clays,  so  they  will  probably  continue  for 
weeks." 

"  I  thought  the  time  for  fires  was  later  in  the 
season,"  said  Randolph. 

"  So  it  is  generally ;  but  the  drought  this  year 
has  been  excessive,  and  the  result  is  a  conflagra- 
tion which  I  fear  may  prove  very  serious." 

"  Oh,  how  I  wish  we  could  see  it !  "  cried  Fay. 
"  Couldn't  we  go  over  to  what's-it's-name  Knob, 
Air  Cameron  ?  " 

"  We  could  not  get  back  in  time  for  the  train 
if  we  did,"  answered  Cameron,  smiling.  "  Be- 
sides, there  is  very  little  to  be  seen  of  a  fire  in  the 
daytime — nothing,  in  fact,  except  smoke." 

"And  of  that  we  have  an  abundance,"  said 
Mrs.  Ellis,  looking  round  at  the  scene,  which  was 
indeed  draped  in  a  more  than  Indian  Summer 
haze,  and  especially  at  the  burning  mountains, 
over  which  hung  a  dark-gray  canopy ;  while  the 
breeze,  which  was  almost  due  west,  felt  like  the 
breath  of  the  desert,  and  was  laden  with  smoke, 
though  it  was  evident  that  the  fire  was  still  miles 
away. 

"If  this  wind  lasts,  the  flames  will  be  here  by 
midnight,"  remarked  Randolph. 

"  How  glad  I  am  that  we  shall  be  at  the 
Springs  !  "  said  Mrs.  Ellis,  shuddering. 

"  I  don't  know  about  that,"  returned  Miss 
Chesselton.  "I  think  it  must  be  a  grand  sight, 
and  I  should  like  to  see  it  of  all  things." 


A  LITTLE  MAID   OF  ARCADY.  239 

"  Perhaps  you  may  be  gratified,"  observed 
Alan.  "I  am  not  sure,  but  I  have  a  suspicion 
from  appearances  over  yonder" — he  pointed  in  a 
direction  a  little  north  by  west — "  that  there  is 
another  fire  in  the  gorge  behind  that  range  of 
hills ;  and  if  so,  it  may  cut  off  our  return  to  the 
station." 

"  Good  Heavens  !  '  exclaimed  Mrs.  Ellis. 
"  Then  let  us  go  back  now,  and  wait  at  the  station 
for  the  train." 

"  Cameron  is  only  jesting,"  said  Randolph.  "  I 
don't  think  there  is  the  least  danger  of  our  being 
flanked  by  the  fire,  Mrs.  Ellis." 

"  I  only  wish  that  there  was,"  said  Fay  Ches- 
selton.     "It  would. be  so  interesting!  " 

"  There  is  no  immediate  danger,  certainly," 
said  Alan,  in  answer  to  the  look  of  appeal  directed 
to  him  by  Mrs.  Ellis. 

It  was  at  this  point  that  Chesselton  spoke  for 
the  first  time  since  the  approach  of  Bernadette 
and  Alan. 

"  There  is  not  the  least  danger,  either  immediate 
or  remote,"  he  said,  in  his  peremptory,  clear-cut 
tones.  "It  is  absurd  to  attempt  to  make  a  sensa- 
tion out  of  nothing.  We  might  stay  here  for  a 
week  and  see  no  more  of  the  fire  than  we  do 
now." 

"  We  certainly  are  not  going  to  make  the  ex- 
periment," said  Mrs.  Ellis,  with  decision.  "But 
I  suppose  we  can  at  least  take  our  luncheon  with 


240  A   LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

minds  at  ease.  And,  whether  from  the  unusual 
amount  of  exercise  we  have  taken,  or  lack  of  any- 
thing more  entertaining  to  do,  I  for  one  am  quite 
ready  for  it." 

"  Come,  then,"  said  Bernadette,  turning  around. 
"  Let  us  go  down  to  the  house  and  open  the 
hamper.  It  will  be  strange  to  eat  and  drink  once 
more  under  that  roof,"  she  added  as  if  to  herself, 
with  a  faint  sigh. 

While  the  ladies  were  engaged  in  opening  the 
hamper,  and  setting  forth  its  contents  as  well  as 
the  lack  of  a  table  would  permit,  Cameron  and 
Randolph  exchanged  a  few  words  as  they  stood 
together  outside  the  door. 

"Without  the  least  intention  of  making  4a 
sensation  out  of  nothing,'  I  don't  like  the  look  of 
things,"  said  Alan,  in  a  low  tone,  as  a  flock  of 
birds  flew  with  distressed  cries  over  their  heads. 
"  I  was  right  about  there  being  another  fire  over 
there  to  westward,  and  it  seems  to  be  gaining 
more  rapidly  than  I  expected.  We  must  get  out 
of  these  hills  as  soon  as  possible  ;  for  if  the  flames 
advance  as  they  have  been  doing  within  the  last 
hour,  we  might  be  in  considerable  danger  on  re- 
turning to  the  station." 

"  Danger  ! — of  what  kind  ? '  asked  Randolph, 
opening  his  eyes. 

"  Of  being  burned  alive,  if  you  call  that 
danger,"  said  the  other,  dryly. 


A   LITTLE   MAID    OF   ARC  AD  Y.  241 

"  But,  my  dear  fellow,  the  clearings  will  keep 
us  safe." 

"  You  are  thinking  of  the  sort  of  fire  they  have 
on  the  prairies,  where  there's  nothing  to  burn  but 
dry  grass,"  said  Cameron.  "  Our  mountain  con- 
flagrations are  something  very  different.  The 
substance  of  their  material  gives  them  fearful 
power ;  and  I  have  seen  many  a  fire  which  would 
sweep  over  all  these  clearings  like  an  avalanche." 

"  For  Heaven's  sake,  let  us  get  out  of  here 
then  ! " 

"  Exactly  what  I  think ;  and  as  soon  as  luncheon 
is  over  I  shall  harness  up  the  horses  and  we  will 
be  off.  You  had  better  come  in  now — but  don't 
say  anything  about  this." 

They  entered  the  house,  and  luncheon  was  soon 
in  progress.  Notwithstanding  various  heart-burn- 
ings in  different  quarters,  the  contents  of  the 
hamper  were  well  discussed,  and  the  champagne 
glasses  clinked  together  very  gayly.  •  "  It  is  better 
to  laugh  than  be  sighing,"  sang  Mrs.  Ellis,  wav- 
ing her  glass  like  the  cantatrice  in  "  Lucrezia 
Borgia."  And  they  all  fulfilled  the  injunction. 
One  does  not  stop  to  scrutinize  how  much  of  the 
true  ring  of  honest  gayety  a  laugh  may  have  at 
such  a  time. 

After    luncheon    Alan    announced,    somewhat 

diffidently,  the  change  of  programme  with  regard 

to  their  return.     He  was  agreeably  surprised  that 

it  received  a  careless  indorsement  from  most  of 

16 


242  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF  ARCADY. 

the  party ;  evidently  they  felt  languid,  and  slightly 
indifferent  whether  they  went  or  stayed. 

"  Only  we  must  go  over  to  the  knoll  and  take  a 
last  look  at  the  fire,"  said  Mrs.  Ellis.  uThe 
smoke  is  so  much  worse  that  it  must  be  worse,  I 
should  think." 

There  was  no  gainsaying  the  pretty  widow 
when  she  set  her  head  on  anything.  Chesselton, 
as  in  gallantry  bound,  was  by  her  side,  though 
secretly  bored  to  death.  He  had  not  bargained 
for  anything  like  this,  he  thought  a  little  resent- 
fully ;  forgetting  that  he  had  only  himself  to 
thank  for  the  whole  of  it.  Fay  and  Randolph 
followed.  Bernaclette  sat  down  in  the  door  where 
she  had  sat  so  often,  and  where  in  all  human 
probability  she  would  never  sit  again,  and  told 
her 


"  memories  o'er, 


As  you  tell  your  beads ; 


>> 


while  Alan  harnessed  up  his  horses  with  an  ease 
and  expedition  which  might  have  done  credit  to  a 
practical  hostler. 

Before  long  all  was  ready,  and  the  knoll  party 
were  signalled  to  return.  They  came  in  haste, 
full  of  accounts  of  the  progress  the  fire  had  made. 
Randolph  in  particular  seemed  much  dismayed. 

"  There's  literally  smoke  everywhere,"  he  said. 
"It  strikes  me  that  there  must  be  fire  in  three  or 
four  different  places." 


A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARC  AD  Y.  243 

"  Only  in  two,  T  think,"  said  Alan  ;  "  and  we'll 
soon  be  out  of  it  now.  These  brutes  don't  like 
the  look  of  things,"  he  added,  patting  one  of  the 
horses,  who  now  and  then  snorted  uneasily. 
"Put  the  ladies  in,  Randolph,  while  I  keep  them 
quiet." 

He  spoke  only  to  Randolph,  for  Chesselton  had 
strolled  off  down  to  the  mill.  "  You  can  take  me 
up  there,"  he  said,  carelessly.  Everybody  noticed 
how  much  he  avoided  Cameron,  and  how  brusque 
he  was  to  him  when  they  were  necessarily  thrown 
together. 

When  they  drove  down  to  the  mill,  they  found 
that  he  had  walked  farther  on ;  and  when  they 
overtook  him,  he  declined  to  enter  the  conveyance. 

"  I  believe  I'll  walk,"  he  said.  "  I'm  something 
of  a  pedestrian,  and  the  road  is  moderately  good." 

Alan  held  the  restive  horses  still  while  he 
looked  at  him  for  an  instant,  as  if  uncertain 
whether  or  not  to  speak.     Then,  he  said,  gravely  : 

44  You  had  much  better  come  with  us,  Mr.  Ches- 
selton.    The  fire  is  nearer  than  you  think." 

"  You  must  allow  me  to  differ  with  you  on  that 
point,"  replied  Chesselton,  with  the  same  offensive 
hauteur  which  had  been  evident  in  his  manner 
whenever  he  addressed  Alan  that  day.  "I  am 
very  sure  the  fire  is  not  within  miles  of  us,  al- 
though the  wind  has  brought  the  smoke  over." 

"  O  Ridgeley,  do  come  !  "  cried  Fay.  "  What 
is  the  use  of  running  any  risk?  " 


244  A   LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

"  Oh,  yes,  Mr.  Chesselton,  pray  come  !  "  pleaded 
Mrs.  Ellis,  beckoning  him  to  a  seat  beside  her. 

But  Bernadette  said  not  a  word,  probably  be- 
cause she  thought  there  was  expostulation  enough 
without  her  joining  in  the  chorus,  and  probably 
also  because  she  was  deeply  and  intensely  dis- 
gusted by  Chesselton's  manner  and  conduct. 
That  he  marked  her  silence,  and  that  it  had  its 
effect  upon  him,  there  could  be  no  doubt.  His 
mouth  set  itself  with  a  look  of  obstinacy  familiar 
to  those  who  knew  his  face. 

"I  prefer  to  walk,"  he  said,  addressing  the 
party  generally.  "  Pray  spare  yourselves  any 
useless  solicitude  on  my  account.  I  shall  be  at 
the  station  almost  as  soon  as  you  are.    Au  revoir  !  " 

He  waved  his  hand,  and  they  had  no  alternative 
but  to  drive  on.  It  was  about  half  a  mile  beyond 
this  point  that  they  began  to  feel  decidedly  un- 
easy ;  and  the  farther  they  went,  the  more  appre- 
hensive they  became.  More  and  more  dense  grew 
the  smoke,  hotter  and  hotter  the  air.  Their  eyes 
were  smarting  and  dim ;  breathing  presently  be- 
came a  positive  difficulty  and  pain. 

"O  Mr.  Cameron!"  cried  Mrs.  Ellis,  when 
they  had  gone  about  one  mile  of  the  three  before 
them — and  there  she  stopped  and  panted  and 
coughed  before  she  could  proceed — "  O  Mr.  Cam- 
eron, I  think  we  must  be  going  nearer  to  the  fire 
instead  of  away  from  it !  This  is — d — read — ful !" 
she  concluded,  in  almost  inarticulate  gasps. 


A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY.  245 

"  We  are  going  nearer  to  it,"  answered  Cameron, 
without  turning  bis  face.  "  But  it  can't  be  helped  : 
it  is  our  only  salvation.  We  must  pass  the  point 
of  the  road  which  crosses  the  gorge  about  half  a  mile 
ahead,  or  we  shall  be  shut  in  by  the  flames  and 
have  to  return  to  the  mill ;  and  I  don't  want  to  do 
that  because  the  fire  from  the  direction  of  Hant- 
zel's  Knob  will  certainly  be  there  during  the 
course  of  the  night — " 

"  Why  don't  you  push  on  faster  ?  "  exclaimed 
Randolph,  eagerly  (they  had  been  going  only  at  a 
very  sharp  trot).  '-Whip  up  the  horses,  for 
Heaven's  sake  !  " 

"No,"  said  Alan:  "that  wouldn't  do.  I  must 
reserve  their  strength  for  the  last  effort,  which" 
(his  voice  sank  a  little  here)  "  will  be  a  hard  one." 

"  But—"  again  began  Randolph. 

Alan  interrupted  him  in  turn.  "  I  have  count- 
ed all  the  chances,"  he  said.  "  I  dare  not  break 
the  animals  down  by  pushing  them  too  hard  now. 
Trust  me,"  he  added ;  and  this  time  he  did  look 
round  for  an  instant  at  the  four  pale  faces  behind 
him,  and  even  smiled  reassuringly.  "  I  think — I 
am  sure — that  we  shall  make  the  distance  before 
us  in  time.  But  we  shall  have  to  pass  through  a 
scorching  atmosphere.  Wrap  up  your  heads 
and  faces  securely,  ladies  ;  and,  Randolph,  come 
here  on  the  seat  with  me." 

Randolph  stepped  forward  as  desired  ;  while  the 
ladies  half  mechanically  obeyed  the  word  of  com- 


216  A   LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

raand  given  them,  by  taking  off  the  light  wrappings 
they  wore  and  enveloping  their  heads  and  shoulders. 

"  More  over  the  face,"  said  Alan,  looking  back 
again.  "  Your  veils  are  silk  and  will  not  scorch 
easily  ;  cover  your  heads  securely  with  them,  and 
you  had  better  shut  your  eyes.  We  shall  turn  the 
curve  of  that  hill  now  in  a  minute  and  face  the 
lire.     I  wish — " 

He  paused  abruptly;  but  Bernadette  finished 
the  sentence  for  him. 

"  You  mean  you  wish  Ridgeley  was  with  us?  " 
she  cried.  "  Oh,  stop,  stop,  Alan  !  We  must 
wait  for  him  f  " 

"  Impossible  !  "  he  answered,  putting  his  right 
hand  back  and  catching  her  arm  as  she  rose  in 
wild  terror.  "  Don't  be  alarmed  about  him,"  he 
continued,  in  a  tone  which  compelled  belief.  "  On 
my  soul,  you  may  dismiss  all  fear  about  him.  Be- 
fore this  he  has  turned  back,  and  is  in  safety  at  the 
mill  or  near  it  now." 

"  But  you  said  that  the  other  fire  would  come 
there  !  "  she  exclaimed, quivering  with  horror. 

44  Not  for  hours  yet.  Cover  your  face" — for  she 
had  pushed  back  the  wrappings  from  around  it, — 
"  and  all  of  you  crouch  down  between  the  seats 
as  close  to  the  floor  as  you  can."  Instinctively 
they  all  three  obeyed.  "  Now  for  it !  "  said  he, 
turning  back  to  the  horses,  and  his  lips  set  them- 
selves  like   steel.      "  Here,    Randolph,   take   the 


reins." 


A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARC  AD  Y.  247 

Randolph  took  them,  and  Alan  rose  to  his  feet 
with  the  long  driving-whip  in  his  hand.  The 
smoke  was  so  thick  that  he  could  not  see  ten  feet 
ahead;  but  he  knew  every  inch  of  the  road,  and 
knew  that  in  another  moment  they  would  round 
the  hill  which  had  heretofore  shut  off  the  sight  of 
the  fire,  and  meet  it  almost  face  to  face. 

"  Hold  hard  now,"  he  said,  as  with  a  touch  of  the 
whip  he  put  the  horses  to  a  gallop.  "  Hold  hard 
and  steady — the  left  rein  particularly ;  they  will 
try  to  dash  to  the  right.  Take  a  long  breath  : 
we  sha'n't  be  able  to  breathe  again,  even  as  we  do 
now,  for  several  minutes." 

The  last  two  sentences  had  been  articulated 
with  difficulty.  The  next  instant  they  turned  the 
curve  of  the  hill,  and  the  fire  was  before  them. 
Randolph  gave  one  glance.  The  descent  of  the 
road  was  very  abrupt  here,  and  all  that  was  visi- 
ble was  smoke  and  flame,  so  that  it  looked  to  him 
as  if  they  were  about  to  plunge  into  hell.  To  the 
right  and  immediately  in  front  was  an  immense 
mass  of  dark -gray  smoke,  looming  like  a  solid  wall 
from  earth  to  sky  through  the  dim,  almost  opaque, 
atmosphere  around  them;  to  the  left,  mingled 
with  and  overtowering  heavy  volumes  of  the  inky- 
black  smoke  of  the  resinous  pines  that  were  con- 
suming, the  fire  came  sweeping  on — crackling, 
whirling,  eddying  ;  darting  tongues  of  lived  flame 
now  high  in  air,  now  in  rushing  billows  along  the 
ground  ;  sending  showers  of  sparks  and  cinders  as 


248  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADE. 

avant-couriers  in  its  path  of  destruction.  The 
horses  stopped  short  as  they  first  saw  the  light  of 
the  fire,  then  reared  back  in  their  traces,  apparently 
wild  with  fright. 

"  Hold  hard,"  said  Alan's  half-stifled  voice  again. 
"Keep  them  in  the  road." 

As  he  spoke  he  brought  the  whip  down  with 
merciless  force  upon  them.  The  shock  of  the 
unexpected  blow  made  them  sink  to  their  feet,  but 
they  stood  paralyzed, — absolutely  motionless. 
Down  upon  them  again  came  the  sharp,  stinging 
lash,  and  this  time  they  clashed  forward  at  a  run. 

Randolph  could  not  see  the  road — he  could 
not  see  anything  indeed.  The  air  felt  like  liquid 
fire  enveloping  them  ;  he  quivered  with  a  sensation 
between  burning  and  suffocation  as  he  inhaled  it ; 
but  he  did  not  lose  presence  of  mind.  "  Hard  and 
steady '  he  held  the  reins ;  while  Alan,  putting 
his  hand  upon  them  a  little  in  front,  guided  their 
course  as  a  helmsman  steers  his  boat,  keeping  the 
heads  of  the  animals  straight  toward  the  giant 
terror,  to  which  each  instant  brought  them  nearer. 

The  flames  were  within  fifty  yards  of  the  road 
when  the  carriage  dashed  in  front  of  their  track, 
and  Alan  felt  that  seconds  would  decide  their  fate. 
If  the  heat  had  been  fearful  before,  it  was  yet 
worse  now,  and  once  more  the  horses  reared  fran- 
tically and  endeavored  to  plunge  to  the  right. 
Again  Alan  subdued  them  ;  again  he  brought  down 
his  whip  relentlessly  upon  their  haunches,  and  they 


A   LITTLE   MAID   OP   ARCABY.  249 

sped  on.  The  width  of  the  fiery  track  was  not 
great, — in  fact,  it  was  here  but  a  mere  tongue 
which  had  diverged  from  the  main  course  of  the 
conflagration;  and  though  the  time  during  which 
they  were  immediately  before  it,  enveloped  in  its 
advancing  breath,  seemed  to  them  all  ages  of 
agony,  in  reality  it  was  scarcely  more  than  a  min- 
ute. 

Cameron  sank  to  his  seat  beside  Randolph  as 
the  line  of  the  flames  was  cleared ;  but  he  did  not 
check  the  pace  of  the  horses,  who,  seeming  con- 
scious that  the  danger  was  now  behind  them, 
needed  no  urging  to  induce  them  to  strain  forward 
at  their  utmost  speed.  It  was  only  when  they 
felt  the  cool  refreshment  of  water  around  their 
scorched  feet  and  legs  as  they  came  upon  a  shallow 
brook,  that  they  stopped,  and,  quivering  in  every 
limb,  bent  their  heads  to  relieve  their  terrible 
thirst. 

The  reins  dropped  from  Randolph's  hands — the 
muscles  of  his  arms  seemed  to  give  way  suddenly, 
— and  Alan  caught  them,  as  he  saw  that  the  horses 
were  trying  to  lie  down  in  the  stream.  He  sprang 
out  rather  blindly,  but  landed  on  his  feet,  up  to 
his  knees  in  the  water,  and  unloosed  the  check- 
reins  which  prevented  the  poor  animals  from 
drinking.  Then  he  stooped,  and  taking  up  some 
water  in  his  hand,  moistened  his  own  parched 
mouth. 

"  Thank  God,  we  are  safe  ! '    he  said,  in  a  voice 


250  A   LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARC  AD  Y. 

which,  though  rather  husky,  had  its  own  pleasant 
ring  in  it  still.  He  hurried  round  to  the  back  of 
the  wagon,  pulled  open  the  top  of  the  hamper 
which  was  fastened  on  there,  and,  seizing  the  first 
thing  he  could  lay  his  hands  on,  which  chanced  to 
be  a  goblet,  clipped  some  water  and  gave  it  to 
Randolph,  who  drank  it  at  one  gulp. 

The  ladies  by  this  time  had  slowly  raised  them- 
selves; and  when  Alan,  having  replenished  the 
goblet,  held  it  toward  them,  three  hands  were  in- 
stinctively stretched  forth  for  it.  A  few  broken 
exclamations  were  all  they  uttered  for  some  min- 
utes. In  fact,  all  but  Alan  seemed  half  stupefied  ; 
and,  still  gasping  painfully  for  breath,  though  the 
air  was  now  comparatively  cool  and  clear,  looked 
silently  at  one  another,  and  then  back  at  the  sea 
of  fire  which  was  sweeping  over  the  spot  which 
they  had  passed  but  a  few  minutes  before.  Sud- 
denly, as  they  gazed,  they  remembered  Chesseltoi;: 
they  realized  that  this  awful  barrier  of  flame  was 
between  him  and  themselves. 

"  Alan  was  the  first  to  speak.  "  Don't  be  alarmed 
about  Mr.  Chesselton,"  he  said  quietly,  looking 
from  Fay,  who  had  burst  into  passionate  tears,  to 
Bernadette,  who  writh  a  white  face  was  gazing  at  him 
in  wordless  appeal.  "I  am  going  back  for  him 
now.     Randolph  will  take  you  on  to  the  station.  " 

"  Going  back  for  him  ! '  exclaimed  Randolph. 
"  How  do  you  expect  to  get  through  that  ?  " — he 
pointed  to  the  fire. 


A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   ABCADY.  251 

"I  don't  expect  to  get  through  it :  I  expect  to  go 
round  it.  It  travels  fast,  but  I  think  I  can  travel 
faster  on  an  emergency,  and  this  is  an  emergency  ; 
fur,  though  Mr.  Chesselton  is  not  in  the  least  im- 
mediate danger,  it  would  be  dangerous  for  him  to 
remain  where  he  is  twelve  hours  longer.  I  know 
every  path  over  these  mountains,  and  the  fire 
hasn't  spread  far  in  that  direction  yet ''—indicat- 
ing the  right.  "  Keep  up  your  heart,  Miss  Ches- 
selton," he  said,  turning  to  the  sobbing  Fay.  "I 
will  bring  your  brother  out  safely,  I  promise  you." 

"  O  Mr.  Cameron,  how  good  you  are,  how  kind 
and  how  brave ! '  said  poor  Fay  amid  her  sobs. 
"Are  you  sure   there  is  no  danger  for  either  of 

you?" 

"  We'll  talk  about  that  to-morrow,"  he  replied, 
with  his  friendly  smile.  "  Meanwhile  good-bye 
for  the  present.  Minutes  are  precious  in  a  race 
with  such  an  adversary  as  I  have.    I  must  be  off." 

He  stepped  lightly  up,  and,  standing  on  the 
hub  of  the  wheel,  extended  his  hand  first  to  Fay, 
then  to  Mrs.  Ellis.  Tears  gushed  from  their  eyes 
as  they  pressed  it  silently,  unable  to  speak.  But 
Bernadette's  eyes  were  dry,  her  face  as  white  as 
ever,  when  he  came  to  her. 

"  Bernadette  my  darling,"  said  he,  taking  her 
hands,  "  don't  look  so  despairing !  Can't  you 
trust  me  ?  I  am  not  trying  to  deceive  you  when 
I  say  that  I  am  sure  he  is  safe,  and  that  I  can  res- 
cue him." 


252  A   LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

"  0  Alan  !  "  she  cried,  as  she  clung  to  him,  and 
raised  her  face  to  his.  "I  am  wretched — I  am 
wretched!  Are  you  not  going  into  terrible  dan- 
ger ?  " 

"  I  do  not  expect  to  go  into  any  danger  at  all, 
if  I  can  avoid  it,"  he  answered,  holding  her  hands 
for  a  minute,  gazing  the  while  into  her  face  with 
the  gaze  of  one  who  looks  on  something  dearer 
than  life  ;  then,  bending,  he  kissed  her  cheek  just 
where  the  tear-drop  had  glittered  in  the  morning ; 
and,  turning,  sprang  down  into  the  water,  strode 
across,  and  bounding  quickly  up  the  bank  plunged 
into  the  woods  to  the  right. 

After  going  a  little  distance,  however,  he 
stopped,  turned,  and  beckoned  to  Randolph,  who 
had  driven  out  of  the  stream. 

"Come  here  a  minute,"  he  said, — "the  horses 
will  stand.  I  did  not  tell  you  good  bye,  old  fel- 
low," he  went  on  when  Randolph  came  up.  "  And 
though  I  don't  think  there's  much  danger  of  my 
not  coming  out  of  this,  it  is  not  absolutely  certain 
that  I  shall.  I  wanted  to  say  that  if  I  shouldn't 
come  back,  you'll  write  to  the  dear  old  people  in 
Scotland,  won't  you?  Thanks — yes,  I  knew  you 
would.  Bernadette  has  the  address.  Good-bye 
now !  Take  care  of  }Tourself  and  of  them  " — he 
pointed  back, — "  and  have  those  poor  animals 
attended  to  as  soon  as  you  get  to  the  station.  I 
think  you'll  find  their  owner  waiting  for  them. 


A   LITTLE   MAID    OF    ARCADY.  253 

Tell  him  they  saved  our  lives.  He'll  be  glad  to 
hear  that,  honest  fellow  !  " 

"  Cameron,  you're  a  fool  to  run  yourself  into 
such  danger  !  '  burst  out  Randolph,  indignantly. 
"It  was  Chesselton's  own  fault,  his  own  infernal 
folly,  that  got  him  into  this.  It's  madness  to 
throw  away  your  life  in  a  vain  attempt  to  save 
his ;  for  I  don't  believe  that  if  you  succeed  in 
getting  in  to  where  he  is,  you'll  ever  succeed  in 
getting  out  again.  If  you  reach  him,  it  will  only 
be  to  perish  with  him." 

"If  I  thought  so,"  said  Alan,  "  I  should  not  go  ; 
for  in  that  case  it  would  be  simple  suicide.  But  I 
don't  think  so.  I  believe  there  are  five  chances 
to  one  that  I  shall  succeed.  But  there  is  one 
chance  that  I  may  fail ;  and  so,  if  we  never  meet 
again,  God  bless  }~ou,  old  fellow  !  " 

Randolph  could  say  nothing.  Being  a  man,  he 
did  not  care  to  follow  the  infectious  example  of 
the  women ;  so  with  one  more  grasp  of  the  hand 
they  parted. 


CHAPTER  XL 

Chesselton,  on  his  part,  had  not  been  long  in 
discovering  the  danger  into  which  his  own  folly 
had  betrayed  him.  Conscious  that  the  fire  had 
made  a  detour  and  was  likely  to  intercept  his  re- 
turn, he  had  hastened  as  rapidly  as  possible  after 
the  party  in  front.  But  naturally  two  legs  can 
not  accomplish  distance  as  speedily  as  four,  es- 
pecially in  an  atmosphere  realizing  one's  most 
hideous  dreams  of  the  Inferno.  The  young  man 
soon  found  that  to  the  difficulty  of  breathing  was 
superadded  great  difficulty  of  moving.  The  smoke 
was  simply  suffocating  ;  his  mouth  was  parched, 
his  eyes  were  smarting  ;  still  he  pressed  on 
staunchly,  until  suddenly,  on  gaining  an  eminence 
up  which  he  had  toiled  painfully,  he  found  a  rush- 
ing sea  of  fire  before  him. 

It  is  useless  to  describe  what  he  thought — in 
fact,  he  scarcely  knew  himself.  He  gazed  about 
him  for  severel  minutes,  realized  the  utter  impos- 
sibility of  going  forward,  turned  and  began  to  re- 
trace his  steps.  He  knew  that  there  was  fire  be- 
hind him ;  but  at  least  it  was  distant,  and  there 
might  be  hope  in  that  direction ;  here  there  was 
none. 

He  walked  on  for  some  time,  revolving  the  sit- 
(254) 


A   LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARC  AD  Y.  255 

uation  in  his  mind,  and  trying  to  see  what  was 
the  best  chance  of  escape  open  to  him.  Truth  to 
tell,  matters  looked  black  enough.  He  was  utterly 
ignorant  of  any  bearing?  of  the  country — a  wild 
and  thickly-wooded  one  he  knew.  Already  his 
brain  seemed  whirling  with  the  multiplicity  of 
hills  and  mountains,  valleys  and  hollows,  so  nearly 
alike  that  they  defied  any  one  not  born  on  the 
soil  or  trained  in  woodcraft  to  tell  them  apart. 
From  his  childhood  a  dweller  in  cities,  how  could 
he  hope  to  do  this  ?  More  than  once  he  stopped 
and  looked  around  him.  He  could  plainly  per- 
ceive that  the  terrible  volumes  of  ascending 
smoke  did  not  quite  encircle  him, — that  to  the 
extreme  right  the  flames  had  not  yet  penetrated. 
But  could  he  without  a  guide  venture  among 
those  trackless  woods?  He  knew  that  he  might 
wander  there  for  days,  and  fall  a  victim  to  the 
fires  at  last.  He  made  up  his  mind  that  he  could 
not  venture,  that  he  would  go  back  to  the  house 
and  trust  to  the  clearings  for  safety. 

"From  that  knoll  where  we  stood  to-day  I  can 
see  exactly  how  things  look,"  he  muttered  to  him- 
self.    "  What  a  fool  I  was  to  come  !  " 

The  air  was  so  oppressive,  he  was  obliged  to 
walk  so  slowly  and  to  rest  so  often  that  some 
time  had  elapsed  before  he  reached  the  mill.  He 
made  his  way  at  once  over  to  the  knoll,  where, 
sitting  down,  he  looked  about  him  with  a  sensa- 
tion of  hopelessness  and  desolation  which  he  never 


256  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

forgot.  Everything  was  ominously  still — every 
bird,  every  animal,  every  grasshopper  and  cricket, 
apparently,  had  fled  before  the  coming  of  the  fire. 
A  sort  of  apathy  came  over  him.  He  remained 
almost  motionless,  watching  supinely  the  advance 
of  the  fearful  fate  that  seemed  about  to  overtake 
him.  He  knew  that  his  only  hope  of  safety  was 
in  the  hills,  but  he  felt  an  unconquerable  horror  at 
the  idea  of  trusting  himself  there. 

"  One  might  as  well  die  here,"  he  said  aloud, 
and  strangety  his  voice  sounded  in  his  own  ears. 
"  Of  course  it  must  come  to  that  at  last.  My 
God,  to  think  of  being  hemmed  in  by  fire  and  dy- 
ing like  a  dog  ! '  Then  he  began  to  recall  accounts 
that  he  had  read — mere  newspaper  paragraphs — 
of  people  burned  to  death  in  these  mountain  fires. 
"  Somebody  will  glance  over  an  account  of  my 
death,  and  say,  i  How  horrible  ! '  as  they  eat  their 
breakfast  muffins,"  he  said,  with  a  short,  discord- 
ant laugh.  Then  he  thought  of  Bernadette,  and 
of  a  little  oak-branch  which  he  carried, — a  branch 
broken  from  the  tree  where  he  had  seen  her  first. 
"  I  believe  there  is  a  fatality  in  the  spot !  "  he 
added,  fiercely.     "  Why  did  I  ever  come  here  ?" 

The  sun  went  down  behind  a  veil  of  smoke, 
that  gave  to  his  familiar  face  a  red  and  terribly 
lurid  look.  Night  came,  but  with  it  came  no 
friendly  curtain  of  darkness.  As  the  light  of 
day  faded,  the  fearful  light  of  the  fire  blazed  out 
upon  earth  and  sky.     Three  parts  of  the  heavens 


A   LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY.  257 

hung  like  a  crimson  canopy  over  the  wildly  illum- 
inated scene  beneath,  while  even  upon  the  eastern 
quarter  there  was  a  bright  glow  reflected  from 
the  opposite  side.  And,  as  the  hours  went  slowly 
by,  nearer  and  nearer  to  Chesselton  advanced  the 
inevitable  moment  when  he  felt  that  he  must  face 
death  in  its  most  awful  form. 

It  was  his  custom  to  wind  up  his  watch  punc- 
tually at  ten  o'clock  every  night.  As  that  time 
approached,  from  the  mere  force  of  habit,  he  took 
it  out  for  the  purpose.  He  was  still  upon  the 
knoll,  where  he  had  been  sitting  so  long — sitting 
almost  in  a  state  of  stupor, — and  when  he  re- 
turned the  watch  to  his  pocket  he  rose  to  his  feet 
and  looked  round.  A  sort  of  frenzy  seeemed  to 
seize  him, — a  paroxysm  of  that  excitement  which 
in  all  desperate  conditions  alternates  the  apathy 
of  despair. 

"  My  God — my  God  ! '  he  exclaimed,  flinging 
his  hands  out  with  a  wild  gesture.  "  Must  I  die 
so  ?     Is  there  no  escape  ?  " 

He  looked  round — half  with  the  newly-awak- 
ened energy  which  had  come  to  him,  half  in  pow- 
erless despair ;  and  the  fever-fit  ebbed  as  it  had 
rushed  over  him  when  he  perceived  that,  with  the 
exception  of  one  narrow  strip  of  woods  stretch- 
ing to  the  eastward,  he  was  literally  surrounded 
by  a  belt  of  fire.  The  flames,  which  in  the  after- 
noon had  been  confined  to  the  valley  that  ran  par- 
allel with  the  railroad  track  far  above,  had  grad- 
17 


258  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

ually  spread  on  each  side — climbing  the  mountain 
on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the  other  sweeping  over 
the  comparatively  level  region  of  country  which 
lay  between  the  railroad  and  the  old  Cameron 
place.  As  Chesselton  looked  he  saw  that  in  that 
direction — the  northwest — the  flames  were  within 
half  a  mile  of  where  he  stood,  while  on  the  south- 
west the  edge  of  the  circle  was  nearer  still.  A 
wall  of  light,  obscured  in  part  by  the  heavy  vol- 
umes of  smoke  rolling  before  it,  was  sweeping 
straight  upon  him  with  horrible  rapidit}*.  Glanc- 
ing along  the  line  of  the  circle,  he  perceived  that 
it  stretched  round  toward  the  east  as  far  as  his 
eye  could  go.  He  turned  his  face  northward,  and, 
as  he  hurried  down  from  the  knoll  and  approached 
the  house,  gazed  forward.  On  this  side  the  fire 
was  farther  off — a  mile  away  at  least,  he  thought; 
for  he  could  only  see  it  dimly  through  the  heavy 
atmosphere  of  smoke  that  intervened.  But  what 
matter?  It  was  there  to  intercept  him  if  he  at- 
tempted to  fly  from  the  fiery  avalanche  behind. 
And  to  the  east — doubtless  it  would  be  there  also 
long  before  he  could  reach  the  verge  of  its  track. 

"  But  I  need  not  burn  to  death :  there  is  the 
creek,"  he  thought  suddenly.  "  I'll  throw  myself 
into  the  water.     Better  be  drowned  than  burned." 

His  strength  had  been  so  exhausted  by  the 
effort  and  endurance  of  the  afternoon  and  even- 
ing that  he  staggered  almost  feebly  along,  past 
the  house,  down  the  hill,  until  he  paused  at  last 


A   LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY.  259 

on  the  bridge,  and,  his  foot  stumbling,  narrowly 
escaped  a  plunge  into  the  stream  before  he  was 
ready  for  it.  He  looked  down  at  the  waters  flow- 
ing swiftly  beneath  his  feet,  but  even  through  the 
obscuring  smoke  they  shone  red  from  the  reflec- 
tion of  the  sky  above  them.  His  throat  was 
parched;  he  began  to  feel  giddy  and  stupid  again, 
and  was  just  about  to  sit  down,  with  a  dim  idea 
that  as  the  fire  came  over  the  hill  he  would  drop 
himself  into  the  creek,  when  he  was  startled  back 
to  full  consciousness  by  a  sound,  a  half-articulate 
cry,  close  beside  him.  As  he  looked  up  a  figure 
— a  man's  figure — leaned  over  him,  seized  his  arm, 
cried,  "  Thank  God ! "  and  then  literally  fell 
down  at  his  feet. 

At  first  Chesselton  thought  it  was  some  half- 
crazed  person  flying  from  the  fire ;  but  his  amaze- 
ment was  indeed  great,  and  almost  beyond  power 
of  expression,  when,  bending  down,  he  found  that 
it  was  Alan  Cameron !  He  started  back,  and  as 
he  did  so  the  other  slowly  and  with  difficulty  rose 
to  a  sitting  posture. 

"Excuse  me!"  he  said.  "I  did  not  mean  to 
tumble  over ;  but,  you  see,  I  have  been  going  at  a 
tremendous  pace,  and — this  is  the  reaction  I  sup- 
pose. I  am  heartily  glad  to  find  you,  Mr.  Ches- 
selton !  " 

"  I  am  heartily  sorry  to  see  you  !  "  said  Ches- 
selton, bluntly.     "  For  God's  sake,  how  did  you 


260  A   LITTLE   MAID    OF   AKCADY. 

come    back  here  ?  And  " — a  terrible  fear  seizing 
him — "  where  are  the  rest?  " 

"  Safe,  I  am  happy  to  say.  We  got  over  the 
road  just  in  advance  of  the  fire.  But  they  were 
uneasy  about  you,  so  I  thought  I  would  come  back 
and  pilot  you  out  of  these  woods.  As  a  matter 
of  course,  you  don't  know  the  hills  as  I  do,  who 
was  reared  among  them." 

Ridgeley  Chesselton  gave  a  gasp, — such  a  gasp 
as  he  had  never  needed  to  give  in  all  his  life  be- 
fore. To  his  dying  day  he  never  forgot  the  emo- 
tion which  seized  him  then  and  shook  his  nature 
to  its  very  centre.  He  never,  either,  forgot  the 
sight  which  Cameron  presented.  Through  what 
fiery  straits  he  had  passed  no  one  ever  heard  him 
say,  but  their  traces  were  plainly  set  upon  him. 
Grimed  with  smoke,  scorched  by  fire,  he  looked 
as  if  he  might  have  come  from  the  very  domain  of 
Pluto.  Chesselton  glanced  at  him  from  head  to 
foot.  This  man  had  braved  danger,  endured 
fatigue,  perilled  life  for  him,  while  he — 

"  Do  you  know  that  my  obstinate  folly  has  cost 
you  all  this  ?  '  he  said,  with  a  harsh  laugh. 
"  Why  didn't  you  leave  me  to  bear  the  penalty  of 
it?  Why  did  you  come  back  and  run  such  a  ter- 
rible risk  with  your  life  to  try  to  save  mine  ?  " 

"  I  am  an  old  mountaineer,"  said  Alan,  simply. 
"I  came  back  to  guide  you  out  by  a  path  known 
only  to  mountaineers.     Don't  let  us  waste  time 


A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARC  AD  Y.  261 

talking,  Mr.  Chesselton.     We  had  better  set  out 
at  once.     See  yonder  !  " 

He  pointed  back,  and  through  the  dim  veil  that 
enveloped  everything  Chesselton  saw  that  their 
terrible  pursuer  had  reached  the  top  of  the  hill. 
One  broad,  tall  column  of  flame  was  shooting  up- 
ward in  a  steady  perpendicular  blaze,  and  on  it 
Alan's  eye  was  fixed. 

"  That  is  the  house,"  he  said.     "  Come  !  " 

"  But  you  are  evidently  exhausted,"  said  Ches- 
selton. "  Here  " — he  plunged  his  hand  into  his 
pocket  and  brought  out  a  small  flask, — "thank 
Heaven,  there's  some  brandy  left  in  it !  ' 

Alan  took  it  willingly  and  drank  the  contents. 
It  revived  his  almost  fainting  strength.  He  rose, 
led  the  way  across  the  bridge  and  down  the  slop- 
ing bank  to  the  edge  of  the  stream,  where,  to 
Chesselton's  surprise,  he  stopped. 

"  I  think  we'd  better  plunge  into  the  water  and 
get  our  clothes  thoroughly  wetted,"  he  said. 
"  The  weight  of  the  water  won't  tell  much  against 
exertion,  and  the  evaporation  will  keep  us  com- 
paratively cool  in  this  seething  atmosphere." 

Without  waiting  for  an  answer,  he  sprang  into 
the  creek  and  crouched  down  until  the  water 
flowed  up  to  his  chin.  Then  he  took  off  his  hat 
and  saturated  it  thoroughly,  and  finally  dipped 
his  head  under  for  an  instant.  Chesselton  fol- 
lowed his  example — more,  it  must  be  confessed, 
from   an   instinct   of  blind  submission  than  from 


262  A  LITTLE  MAID   OF  ARCABY. 

an}-  intelligent  acquiescence  in  the  reason  of  the 
proceeding.  He  also  took  a  deep  draught  of  the 
water,  as  he  saw  the  other  doing,  and  then  they 
struck  into  the  woods. 

Alan  at  first  went  on  in  front,  crushing  through 
the  undergrowth  and  breaking  a  path  for  his  com- 
panion. But  he  found  that  Chesselton  lingered 
too  much — was  too  slow  of  movement.  In  fact, 
the  latter  was  soon  so  completely  exhausted  that 
he  felt  tempted  to  fling  himself  to  the  ground  and 
resign  all  further  effort.  Alan,  who  had  been 
some  distance  ahead,  went  back  to  him,  took  his 
arm,  and  said  cheerfully  : 

"I  know  you  are  awfully  broken  down,  and  so 
I'm  sorry  to  hurry  you ;  but  this  is  a  race  for  life, 
and  we  must  not  spare  ourselves.  If  we  don't 
make  a  mile  within  the  next  half  hour,  we  are 
dead  men." 

The  tone  of  his  voice,  the  firm  yet  persuasive 
grasp  of  his  hand,  even  more  than  his  words — sig- 
nificant as  they  were, — seemed  to  communicate  to 
Chesselton  some  of  his  own  energy.  Side  by  side 
they  pressed  on  rapidly  now,  gasping  for  breath 
as  they  inhaled  the  hot,  pungent  smoke  with 
which  the  atmosphere  was  laden.  Oh  for  one 
breath  of  fresh  air !  they  both  thought  as  they 
toiled  on,  up  and  down  hill,  over  stones  and 
stumps,  and  through  briars  and  bushes.  Oh  for 
one  breath  of  air — one  draught  of  water  !  At  last 
Chesselton   stumbled   and   fell   heavily   forward, 


A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARC  AD Y.  263 

pulling  Cameron  down  also.  The  latter  sprang 
up  at  once,  but  Chesselton  seemed  stunned  and 
stupid.  He  was  losing  consciousness,  when  he 
felt  a  sudden  sensation  of  water  dashed  upon  his 
face,  his  head  was  raised,  and  Alan  held  the  flask 
to  his  lips. 

"  I  filled  it  at  the  creek.     Drink  !  "  he  said. 

Chesselton  drank  ;  Alan  pulled  him  to  his  feet, 
and  again  they  toiled  onward  until  they  came  to 
a  hill  steeper  and  higher  than  any  they  had  yet 
climbed. 

"  I  think  you  will  have  to  leave  me  here,"  said 
Chesselton,  in  a  thick,  husky  voice.  "  My  strength 
is  gone.  It  is  impossible  I  can  get  up  that  hill. 
Go  at  once,  and  God  grant  that  }'our  life  as  well 
as  my  own  may  not  be  the  sacrifice  of — " 

"  Courage  !  courage  !  "  interrupted  Alan,  earn- 
estty.  "  Is  not  life  worth  one  more  strliggle  ? 
Just  beyond  that  hill  is  the  river,  and  once 'there 
we  are  safe.     Come  !  " 

Up  the  steep,  rugged  ascent  they  clambered 
rather  than  walked,  holding  on  by  bushes,  pulling 
along  by  blocks  of  stone,  panting,  quivering,  their 
sight  dim,  their  muscles  almost  cracking  with  the 
strain  upon  them.  They  reached  the  top  at  last, 
and  sank  down  absolutely  overcome  by  exhaus- 
tion. If  the  flames  had  been  upon  them,  neither 
could  have  moved  for  some  minutes.  They  did 
not  even  look  round.  With  closed  eyes  they  lay 
prostrate  on  the  ground,  almost  unconscious.    But 


264  A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

Alan  did  not  yield  long  to  the  sense  of  ntter 
fatigue  which  he  felt.  He  roused  shortly,  opened 
his  eyes,  and  raised  himself  on  his  elbow,  urged 
to  the  effort  by  the  vivid  glare  on  his  face. 

"  Good  Heavens ! "  he  cried ;  "  what  a  spectacle ! " 

He  bent  over  and  shook  Chesselton's  shoulder ; 
and  the  latter,  starting  from  a  state  of  semi-insen- 
sibility, opened  his  eyes  and  sat  up.  Cameron 
pointed  silently  before  him,  and  silently  they  both 
gazed. 

The  hill  sloped  down  gradually  before  them  for 
about  a  hundred  yards  to  the  river — a  narrow 
mountain  stream,  which  rolled  by,  looking  like  a 
flood  of  molten  fire.  On  the  opposite  bank  was  a 
line  of  forest,  through  which  the  flames  were 
rushing  in  mad  career, — twining  like  giant  ser- 
pents around  the  tall  stems  of  the  trees,  flashing 
in  sudden  sheets  of  flame  through  the  crisped 
foliage,  flowing  like  a  sea  of  fire  over  the  earth  as 
they  fiercely  devoured  the  undergrowth.  But 
the  back-ground  was  more  awful  still.  Hill  rising 
behind  hill,  mountain  behind  mountain,  presented 
to  the  eye  an  Alpine  range  of  leaping  flame,  the 
yellow  and  vermilion  tongues  of  which  shone 
dazzling  and  distinct  against  the  deep  blood-red 
hue  of  the  sky. 

The  two  men  sat,  or  rather  reclined,  for  at  least 
half  an  hour,  looking  with  fascinated  regard  at 
the  ocean  of  blinding  light  that  stretched  before 
them.     Alan  moved  at  length. 


A  LITTLE  MAID   OF  ARCADY.  265 

"I  am  afraid  you  will  think  me  a  very  merciless 
traveling  companion,  Mr.  Chesselton,"  he  said, 
with  a  half  laugh;  "but  it  is  time  we  were  moving 
again.  Thank  God,  however,  the  worst  is  over ! 
We  have  not  much  farther  to  go  before  we  can 
rest  for  good." 

He  rose  and  led  the  way,  Chesselton  following, 
down  to  the  river-bank,  where,  tied  to  the  root  of 
a  tree,  he  found  a  canoe. 

"I'm  glad  I  was  not  mistaken  in  my  expecta- 
tion of  finding  this  here,"  he  said;  "and  I  am 
glad  to  save  the  old  craft.  It  has  been  on  the 
river  here  ever  since  I  can  remember,  but  it  would 
be  food  for  the  fire  if  it  remained  half  an  hour 
longer.     Can  you  handle  a  pole  ?  " 

"  I  suppose  I  can  make  shift  to  do  so,"  answered 
Chesselton,  stepping  into  the  canoe,  and  receiving 
the  pole  which  the  other  offered.  "  But  I  won't 
guarantee  that  I  may  not  go  to  sleep  and  tumble 
out  backward  —  I  feel  so  awfully  tired  and 
drowsy." 

"  Keep  up  a  little  longer,"  said  Alan,  dipping 
his  own  pole  into  the  water.  "  We  must  go  down 
a  few  miles,  so  as  to  get  quite  out  of  range  of  the 
fire ;  for  when  we  get  to  sleep  once,  I  tell  you  we 
shall  sleep  with  a  vengeance." 

"  I  am  sure  of  that,"  returned  Chesselton,  who 
was  half  asleep  already,  and  who  soon  went  sound 
asleep,  dropped  his  pole,  and  came  very  near  fol- 


266  A   LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

lowing  it  himself,  but  did  recover  his  balance  in 
time  to  avoid  that  catastrophe. 

"  Never  mind,"  said  Alan,  in  answer  to  his 
apologies  for  the  mishap.  "  Here  is  a  paddle 
which  you  can  perhaps  use  to  more  advantage 
than  the  pole." 

Chesselton  managed  to  keep  awake  the  rest  of 
the  way,  or  at  least  half  awake,  and  at  last  Alan 
guided  their  craft  to  the  shore.  He  fastened  the 
chain  carefully  to  a  tree  on  the  bank,  and,  step- 
ping out,  extended  his  hand  to  Chesselton,  who 
followed  as  expeditiously  as  his  weariness  per- 
mitted. Afterward,  in  trying  to  recall  the  re- 
maining events  of  the  night,  he  could  only  re- 
member having  felt  a  vague  sense  of  surprise  and 
alarm  at  seeing  Cameron  fall  down  on  the  ground 
and  lie  without  word  or  sign,  after  which  came 
the  blank  of  such  sleep  as  comes  not  often  to  tired 
eyes  on  softest  beds  of  down. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

When"  Chesselton  awoke  he  was  conscious  of  a 
great  stiffness  everywhere,  together  with  sundry 
very  odd  pains  in  his  limbs. 

"  By  Jove  ! '  he  said,  in  astonished  dismay,  be- 
fore he  remembered  where  he  was  ;  then  he 
opened  his  eyes  more  widely  and  took  in  the  scene 
— the  river  flowing  at  his  feet,  the  great  oak  arch- 
ing over  his  head,  the  friendly  cushion  of  moss  on 
which  he  lay.  He  lifted  himself — truly  it  does 
not  do  for  fine  gentlemen  to  turn  into  mountain- 
eers at  an  hour's  notice  ! — and  found  a  jacket, 
which  was  not  his  own,  doubled  for  a  pillow 
under  his  head.  He  looked  at  it  with  a  stare ; 
then,  remembering  clearly  all  the  circumstances 
of  his  position,  glanced  round  for  Cameron.  But 
Cameron  had  vanished.  The  place  where  he  had 
lain  during  the  night  was  sufficiently  visible,  but 
his  bodily  presence  was  of  the  things  that  had 
been  and  were  not.  "  Where  the  deuce  is  the 
fellow?'  said  Chesselton,  almost  petulantly.  He 
felt  ashamed  of  his  petulance  the  moment  after, 
however,  when  glancing  up  at  the  sun  he  found 
that  luminary  high  in  the  heavens  ;  and,  consult- 
ing his  watch,  saw  that,  it  was  verging  close  on 
nine  o'clock.     The  mystery  was  explained  then. 

(267) 


268  A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARC  AD Y. 

No  doubt  Alan  had  risen  with  the  da}^  and  gone 
to  seek  assistance  for  their  forlorn  plight.  "  By 
Jove  ! '  said  Chesselton  again  ;  but  he  said  it  this 
time  in  the  tone  of  one  to  whom  a  sort  of  revela- 
tion had  come.  Then,  observing  that  a  thick 
canopy  of  smoke  still  hung  over  everything,  he 
endeavored  to  settle  to  his  satisfaction  the  "  bear- 
ings '  of  their  position,  especially  with  regard  to 
the  fire  they  had  escaped.  Failing  in  this,  he  had 
no  resource  but  to  sit  on  a  log  and  gaze  medita- 
tively at  the  water. 

He  was  still  engaged  in  this  interesting  occupa- 
tion when  the  stillness  was  suddenly  broken  by 
the  sound  of  voices  and  splash  of  water.  The 
next  moment  a  small  canoe — only  a  "dug-out," 
but  how  welcome !  for  it  was  their  little  craft  of 
the  night  before — shot  round  a* curve  of  the  bank, 
and  coasted  along  to  where  he  was  sitting.  It 
contained  two  men — Alan  and  a  stalwart,  bearded 
mountaineer.  As  soon  as  they  touched  the  bank, 
the  former  sprang  out. 

"This  is  Tom  Martin,  Mr.  Chesselton,"  he  said, 
introducing  his  companion:  "an  old  friend  of 
mine,  who  has  kindly  come  to  our  assistance.  I 
am  glad  to  see  you  looking  so  well,"  he  continued, 
advancing;  to  Chesselton.  "  Did  vou  think  I  had 
left  you  to  '  come  out  of  the  wilderness '  as  best 
you  could  ?  " 

"  I'd  scarcely  have  thought  that  after  your  com- 
ing into  the  wilderness  specially  to  rescue  me," 


A   LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARCADY.  269 

replied  Chesselton,  stretching  out  his  hand  and 
wringing  with  hearty  force  the  one  given  him. 
"  The  question  is  not  how  I  feel,  but  how  you 
feel?  I  have  just  been  thinking  about  it  all,"  he 
went  on  quickly.  "  You  must  have  gone  through 
hell  itself  to  reach  me  last  night." 

"  Not  quite,"  said  the  other,  smiling.  "  I'm  not 
a  salamander,  and  only  salamanders  come  through 
flames  untouched,  I  believe.  I  was  in  the  track 
of  the  fire  most  of  the  way,  though ;  and  " — he 
could  not  restrain  a  shudder — "  that  was  pretty 
nearly  equal  to  the  fire  itself." 

"  God  knows  I  should  think  so  !  "  said  Chessel- 
ton, solemnly. 

"  I'm  more  than  repaid,  however, — ten-fold 
more  than  repaid,  by  having  found  you  and  been 
able  to  pilot  you  out.  To  tell  you  the  truth,  I 
despaired  horribly  more  than  once." 

"  Yet  you  kept  on." 

"Surely  yes.  There  was  little  enough  in  that. 
Tom  Martin  would  have  done  the  same, — wouldn't 
you,  Tom  ?  " 

"Fur  you,  it's  like  enough  I  mought,"  answered 
the  man  thus  addressed,  rather  dubiously.  "We 
thinks  a  heap  on  you  in  the  old  settlement.  Ben 
Cryder,  he  was  sayin'  only  the  other  day — " 

"  This  fellow  thinks  he  might  have  gone  in  for 
you,  because  he  likes  you,"  said  Chesselton,  in  a 
low,  somewhat  bitter  tone,  to  Alan;  "but  you 
had  no  such  reason  for  seeking  me.     I  wonder  if 


270  A   LITTLE   MAID    OF    AECADi. 

you  wanted  to  give  me  a  taste  of  that  apochryphal 
form  of  retribution  known  as  'heaping  coals  of 
fire  '  on  one's  head  ? '  he  ended,  with  an  uneasy 
laugh. 

"  If  }Tou  knew  me,  I  trust  you  would  not  wrong 
me  by  such  a  supposition,"  said  Alan.  "  Since 
you  do  not  know  me,  let  me  assure  you  that  your 
acts  of  incivility  left  no  impression  on  my  mind, 
and  that  I  am  heartily  glad  to  have  been  able  to 
do  you  a  service.  Now  let  us  say  no  more  about 
it." 

"  Unfortunately  it  is  necessary  to  say  a  good 
deal  more  about  it,"  replied  Chesselton,  gravely. 
"In  the  first  place,  I  must  beg  your  pardon,  which 
I  do  most  sincerely,  for  what  you  are  good  enough 
to  describe  as  4  acts  of  incivility,'  but  which  I  re- 
member as  gross  offences,  of  which  I  am  heartily 
ashamed.  I  have  but  one  excuse  to  offer,  and 
that  is  a  poor  one.  I  have  been  jealous,  madly 
jealous,  of  you  ever  since  you  came  ;  for  I  have 
alwa}Ts  feared  your  influence  over  Bernadette ; 
and  before  you  had  been  with  her  long  I  saw 
clearly  that,  whether  you  knew  it  or  not,  you 
possessed  her  heart." 

Alan  made  a  quick  negative  gesture.  "  This  is 
madness !  '  he  said,  almost  sternly.  "  The  jeal- 
ousy of  which  you  speak  has  totally  misled  you. 
Bernadette's  heart  is  true  and  loyal  to  its  old 
affections ;    but  to  think  of  my  possessing  it  as  a 


A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARCADY.  271 

man  possesses  the  heart  of  the  woman  who  loves 
him — that  is  folly  and  blindness." 

Chesselton's  lip  curled  in  a  bitter  smile.  "  If 
there  are  folly  and  blindness  in  the  case,"  he  said, 
uyou  may  look  at  home  for  both.  Do  you  think 
that  I  am  likely  to  be  mistaken, — I  who  have 
loved  Bernadette  from  the  hour  I  found  her, — I 
who  know  and  read  her  as  one  only  reads  the 
nature  one  has  studied  for  years,  and  on  the  com- 
prehension of  which  all  one's  hopes  of  happiness 
depend?  God  help  me,  I  am  only  too  sure  of 
what  I  speak !  No  one  who  loves  a  woman  as  I 
love  her  can  possibly  mistake  the  signs  of  her  love 
for  another.  But  the  man  who  can  not  read  these 
signs  for  himself  scarcely  deserves  to  be  enlight- 
ened," he  added,  thrusting  his  hands  deep  into  his 
pockets  with  a  gesture  familiar  to  him,  and  gazing 
moodily  at  the  river  as  it  flowed  past  the  point  on 
which  they  stood— for  half-unconsciously  they 
had  moved  out  of  hearing  of  the  mountaineer, 
who  was  still  occupied  with  the  canoe. 

Alan,  though  pale  with  emotion,  held  himself 
under  strong  control.  "  I  am  sure  that  you  are 
mistaken,"  he  said,  with  suppressed  vehemence. 
"  I  would  stake  my  existence  on  the  fact  that  you 
are  mistaken.  She  may  not  love  you — frankly,  I 
don't  think  that  she  does, — but  I  am  sure  that  she 
does  not  care  for  me,  except  in  the  old  fashion  of 
our  childhood." 

"  There  is  one  plain  way  to  settle  the  point," 


272  A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

said  Chesselton.  "  Ask  her.  Let  her  speak  for 
herself,  and  say  which  of  us  is  right.  Come,  have 
you  not  courage  enough  for  that?'  he  added, 
swinging  himself  around  and  looking  full  into 
the  other's  face,  at  which  he  had  hitherto  avoided 
glancing. 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Alan,  half  under  his  breath. 
Then  he  met  the  other's  eyes  with  his  clear  and 
candid  ones.  "  I  have  courage  enough  to  face  any 
pain  for  myself,"  he  said,  simply.  u  No  consider- 
ation of  the  kind  would  deter  me.  But  why 
should  I  inflict  pain  on  her  ?  And  it  would  be  very 
real  pain  she  would  feel  at  being  forced  to  answer 
in  the  negative  such  a  question  from  me." 

Chesselton  looked  at  him  intently  for  a  moment, 
as  if  trying  to  gauge  the  extent  of  his  sincerity. 
Then,  apparently  convinced  of  it  he  said,  deliber- 
ately : 

"I  am  the  last  man  who  has  any  claim  to  ask  a 
favor  of  you,  unless  the  fact  that  you  saved  my  life 
last  night  constitutes  a  claim  ;  but  three  people 
are  concerned  in  this  matter,  for  the  sake  of  each 
of  whom  it  should  be  settled  as  you  alone  can 
settle  it.  If  you  love  Bernadette,  she  has  a  right 
to  know  it,  and  a  right  to  say  what  her  choice  in 
life  is;  while  for  me  it  is  of  vital  interest  to  know 
if  I  am  right  or  wrong  in  believing  that  she  cares 
for  you.  Your  own  feelings  you  do  not  seem  to  take 
into  consideration,  so  I  may  put  them  aside;  but 
for  her  sake  and  for  my  own  I  should  be  glad  if 


A   LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY.  273 

you  would  put  the  matter  to  the  test  and  settle  it 
once  for  all.  I  tell  you  plainly,  as  man  to  man, 
you  have  no  right  to  leave  it  as  it  is." 

What  was  it  that  in  Alan's  mind  came  as  an 
echo  to  these  words?  Was  it  not  Bernadette's 
voice  saying,  with  a  strange  thrill  of  passion  in  it, 
"  Why  should  you  not  think  of  yourself?  How 
dare  3^011  attempt  to  think  for  me — to  decide 
whether  this  or  that  life  is  best  for  me,  as  if  you 
were  Providence?"  Was  that  what  she  meant, 
this  wonderful  thing  which  Chesselton  asserted  ? 
He  seemed  suddenly  to  grow  dizzy  with  the  thought, 
and  with  the  possibilities  it  involved.  Yet  it 
was  the  consideration  of  some  of  these  possibilities, 
which  after  a  moment  steadied  him. 

"You  forget,"  he  said,  looking  at  Chesselton 
gravely,  "that  if— if  it  be  possible  that  what 
you  believe  of  Bernadette  is  true,  I  should  be 
doing  her  a  great  injury  if  I  were  to  take  her  from 
the  life  which  is  hers  now,  and  the  future  which 
will  be  hers  in  it,  to  give  her  in  exchange  the 
narrow  and  obscure  life  which  is  all  I  have  to 
offer." 

Chesselton  shrugged  his  shoulders.  "  That,"  he 
said,  "is,  I  imagine,  for  her  to  decide.  For  my 
own  part,  I  do  not  think  any  life  has  ever  suited 
her  so  well  as  the  life  in  which  her  early  years 
were  spent.  I  have  often  told  her  jestingly  that 
she  is  an  Arcadian  at  heart,  and  in  sober  earnest 
it  is  true.  You  have  probably  been  deceived  by 
18 


274  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

her  gayety  and  love  of  pleasure,  arid  believe  her 
much  more  worldly  than  she  is.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  the  things  she  really  cares  for — and  she  cares 
for  them  with  a  singular  tenacity — are  simple 
things.  She  will  never  make  a  woman  of  the 
world.  I  have  always  known  that.  I  think" — 
his  voice  changed  a  little — "  that  I  know  her  better 
than  any  one  else  does,  for  I  have  studied  her 
closely  ever  since  she  came  to  us ;  and,  although  I 
have  tried  to  blind  myself  to  it,  I  have  known  for 
a  long  time  that  I  had  little  hope  of  winning  her 
heart.  I  am  too  complex  a  product  of  civilization 
to  suit  her.  She  needs  a  simpler  and  more  direct 
nature,  such  as  yours.  Now  " — he  made  with  his 
hands  the  gesture  of  one  who  dismisses  a  subject — 
"  I  have  interpreted  the  situation  for  you  as  best  I 
can,  and  I  have  nothing  more  to  add.  Act  or  not 
as  you  think  best." 

He  turned  abruptly  and  was  walking  away, 
when  Alan  with  quick  steps  overtook  him,  and 
placed  his  hand  on  his  arm. 

"  You  must  let  me  thank  you,"  he  said,  in  a  low, 
deeply-moved  voice.  "  You  must  not  think  that 
I  don't  understand — " 

"  You  have  nothing  to  thank  me  for,"  Chessel- 
ton  interrupted.  "  I  felt  constrained  to  say  what  I 
have  said.  It  has  been  no  pleasant  task,  I  assure 
you.  The  rest  is  with  3-011.  Now  shall  we  go  ? 
By  the  bye,  how  do  you  propose  that  we  shall  reach 


A   LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY.  275 

the  Springs  from  this  place  ?  For  myself,  I  have 
not  the  faintest  idea  where  we  are." 

"  Our  best  plan  is  to  drop  down  the  river  for  a 
few  miles,  in  order  to  avoid  the  burning  woods,  and 
take  the  railroad  at  the  nearest  point.  I  have  al- 
ready sent  a  messenger  with  a  telegram  to  your 
mother.  Her  anxiety,  I  fear,  must  be  terrible,  and 
should  be  relieved  as  soon  as  possible." 

"  You  have  thought  of  everything,"  said  Ches- 
selton.     "Let  us  start,  then,  without  further  de- 

lay." 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

The  consternation  of  Mrs.  Chesselton  and  Mr. 
Ridgeley  when  the  downcast  party  returned  from 
their  day's  excursion  with  the  news  of  the  posi- 
tion in  which  Chesselton  and  Alan  had  been  left, 
was  greater  than  can  readily  be  described.  There 
was  a  futile  attempt  on  the  part  of  Randolph  to 
conceal  the  extent  of  the  danger  from  them,  but 
it  had  no  effect  in  quieting  the  apprehensions 
which  the  bare  statement  of  the  situation  roused. 

"If  Ridgeley  was  not  in  danger,"  said  Mrs. 
Chesselton,  "why  did  Mr.  Cameron  think  it  nec- 
essary to  go  back  for  him  through  such  an  awful 
fire  as  you  describe  ?  No,  Mr.  Randolph ;  you 
mean  well,  but  there  is  no  use  in  trying  to  deceive 
me.  I  am  sure  that  my  son  is  in  great  peril,  and 
it  is  maddening  to  think  that  we  can  do  nothing 
to  help  him." 

"  Dear  Aunt  Alice,"  said  Bernadette,  "  have 
faith  in  Alan.  He  knows  these  mountains, — you 
can  not  imagine  how  well  he  knows  them.  The 
more  I  remember  how  he  was  never  at  fault  in 
knowledge  of  the  country,  and  how  cool  and  full 
of  resource  he  is,  the  more  I  am  certain  that  he 
will  reach  Ridgeley  and  bring  him  out  in  safety. 
I  was  desperately  uneasy  about  them  for  a  time, 
(276) 


A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARC  AD  Y.  277 

but  I  am  not  now.     I  am  sure  Alan  will  succeed 
in  what  he  went  back  to  do." 

Mrs.  Chesselton  looked  at  the  girl  as  if  her 
earnest  words,  and  the  deep  sincerity  with  which 
they  were  uttered,  brought  some  reassurance  of 
comfort  to  her. 

u  O  Bernadette,"  she  said,  "  it  may  be  so,  and  I 
have  no  doubt  Mr.  Cameron  will  do  all  he  can ! 
But  if  the  fire  is  betiveen  him  and  Ridgeley,  how 
can  he  reach  him  ?  I  wish  to  God  you  had  never, 
any  of  you,  gone  to  that  place !  It  is  of  ill  omen 
for  us.     My  poor  sister  met  her  death  there." 

"Yes,  but  what  did  /meet  there?"  asked  Ber- 
nadette, her  ej^es  shining.  "No,  Aunt  i\lice,  it  is 
not  a  place  of  ill  omen,  but  one  which  is  conse- 
crated by  kindness.  And  Alan,  who  found  me  in 
the  midst  of  the  terrible  railroad  wreck — for  did  I 
ever  tell  you  that  he  was  the  first  to  discover  me? 
— Alan  will  find  Ridgeley  and  save  him.  I  am 
absolutely  sure  of  it." 

"What  I  can  not  understand,"  said  her  grand- 
father, "  is  how  Ridgeley  could  possibly  have 
been  so  foolish  as  to  stay  behind  when  such  a 
danger  menaced  3rou.  If  I  comprehend  right,  3-011 
crossed  the  road  just  before  the  fire  reached  it, 
with  not  a  second  to  spare — " 

"Not  a  second!  "  they  echoed,  shuddering  over 
the  recollection  of  that  fiery  passage. 

"  And  }Tet,  knowing  that  it  was  so  close,  he 
stayed  behind,  and  3^ou   went  on  and  left  him ! 


278  A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   ARC  AD  Y. 

Had  you  all  lost  your  senses  that  such  a  thing 
was  possible  ?  " 

"No  one  could  help  it,"  said  Fay.  "It  was 
Ridgeley's  own  fault.  He  was  in  one  of  his  obsti- 
nate moods,  and  you  know  how  obstinate  he  can 
be  at  such  times.  He  would  not  believe  that  the 
fire  was  so  near ;  he  would  not  listen  to  Mr.  Cam- 
eron, -who  begged  him  to  come  with  us.  And  as 
for  leaving  him — what  else  could  we  do?  If  we 
had  stayed  another  minute,  we  should  have  been 
all  hemmed  in  by  the  fire." 

"  One  would  think  he  had  gone  mad  ! "  said  Mr. 
Ridgeley.  "  I  never  heard  of  such  insanity  in  my 
life." 

"  He  has  certainly  only  himself  to  blame  for  the 
present  situation,"  observed  Randolph,  gravely. 
"Cameron  will  have  a  terrible  time  in  reaching 
him ;  but,  like  Miss  Arnaud,  I  have  no  doubt  that 
he  will  succeed  in  doing  so." 

"  Unless,  in  order  to  avoid  the  fire,  Ridgeley 
wanders  off  into  the  mountains  and  is  lost,"  said 
Mrs.  Chesselton,  whose  anxiety  seemed  to  give 
her  an  insight  into  the  situation. 

"  Even  then  Alan  would  find  him  !  "  cried  Ber- 
nadette.  "  I  would  stake  my  life  on  that.  He 
will  know  where  to  look  for  him." 

"And  when  can  they  come? — when  can  we 
hear  anything  ?  "  asked  Mrs.  Chesselton,  feverishly. 

"Not  until  to-morrow,  I  fear,"  Randolph  an- 
swered,  reluctantly.     "  The   fire   is   now   raging 


A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARC  AD  Y.  279 

across  the  road  by  which  we  entered ;  and  Cam- 
eron will  have  to  find  some  other  way  of  getting 
out  of  the  mountains,  which  will  probably  take 
them  far  out  of  reach  of  the  railroad  or  telegraph. 
So  you  must  not  be  uneasy  if  it  is  some  time  be- 
fore you  hear  anything/' 

But  even  as  the  speaker  uttered  the  words,  he 
felt  how  vain  they  were.  He  went  sadly  away 
from  the  cottage,  knowing  well  that  he  left  behind 
him  an  anxiety  that  would  find  no  rest  through 
the  long  hours  of  the  night,  but  would  grow  con- 
stantly greater  as  time  went  on,  until  something 
was  heard  from  the  men  now  encircled  by  fire 
among  the  hills.  "  Confound  Chesselton  ! "  he 
muttered  savagely  to  himself.  "  He  is  not  worth 
one  throb  of  what  they  are  suffering ;  and  if  it 
comes  to  a  question  of  Alan's  life — how  little  he 
is  worth  that,  or  even  any  risk  to  it,  would  be  im- 
possible to  say." 

It  would  indeed  be  impossible  to  say  how  much 
or  how  little  any  of  us  are  worth  the  pangs  that 
faithful  and  loving  hearts  must  sometimes  suffer 
for  us ;  but  of  the  suffering  in  two  hearts  at  least 
that  night  there  could  be  no  question.  Mr. 
Ridgeley  and  Fay,  comforting  themselves  with 
the  hope  of  good  news  on  the  morrow,  forgot 
their  uneasiness  after  a  while  in  slumber;  but 
there  was  no  sleep  during  the  long  hours  for  Mrs. 
Chesselton  and  Bernadette.  The  first  had  a  con- 
tinual vision  of  her  son  environed  by  deadly  peril, 


280  A  LITTLE  MAID   OF  ARCADY. 

and  her  only  comfort  was  Bernadette's  firm  and 
constant  assurance,  "  Alan  will  find  him  and  bring 
him  out.  I  am  perfectly  certain  of  that.  Alan 
never  fails." 

And  over  and  over  again  to  herself  she  repeated 
these  words  during  the  night — "  Alan  never  fails." 
It  was  a  talisman  to  keep  down  her  own  fears,  to 
preserve  faith  and  hope  alive.  She  would  not 
allow  herself  to  believe  that  Alan  could  fail,  or 
find  himself  in  danger:  j^et  now  and  then  a  pang 
of  apprehension  seized  her,  as  if  a  strong  hand 
clutched  and  wrung  her  heart ;  and  prayers  of 
agonized  entreaty  rose  to  her  lips  as  she  felt  the 
helplessness  and  hopelessness  of  man's  efforts  un- 
less sustained  by  Gocl.  "O  Mother  of  Mercy, 
save  him ! '  she  would  whisper,  as  the  beads  of 
her  rosary  slipped  through  her  fingers. 

Many  things  came  to  her  during  the  watches  of 
that  night  which  made  an  impress  upon  her  life 
never  to  be  forgotten.  For  the  first  time  she  un- 
derstood beyond  the  possibility  of  a  doubt  what 
Alan  was  to  her, — how  old  affection  had  quick- 
ened into  new  love  under  the  powerful  yet  uncon- 
scious spell  of  a  noble  and  unselfish  nature.  And 
it  was  not  so  much  the  danger  in  which  he  stood 
which  brought  this  realization  in  all  its  force  to 
her,  as  the  passionate  appreciation  of  what  had 
placed  him  in  the  danger.  Clear  as  a  picture  rose 
before  her  mind  Chesselton's  insulting:  words  and 
tones  when  they  had  parted  at  the  mill:  and  to 


A  LITTLE  MAID   OF   AECADY.  281 

run  unshrinkingly  the  risk  of  an  awful  death  for 
him  was  Alan's  answer  and  revenge  !  The  girl's 
heart  swelled  with  pride  over  the  high  worthiness 
of  it.  She  felt  a  rush  of  tenderness  that  was 
almost  pain.  "Alan,  Alan,  there  is  nobody  like 
you — nobody  !  "  she  whispered  to  herself.  And 
there  was  a  prouder  and  more  confident  ring  in 
her  voice  as  she  said  again  to  Mrs.  Chesselton  : 
"  Don't  fear,  Aunt  Alice  !  Have  faith  in  God — 
and  Alan.  I  am  sure  they  are  and  will  be  saved." 
It  was  Randolph  who  brought  Alan's  dispatch 
to  them  the  next  morning,  and  laid  it  in  Mrs. 
Chesselton's  hand,  whose  overwrought  feelings 
could  only  find  relief  in  tears.  "  God  bless  him!' 
she  said,  as  she  read  the  name  traced  at  the  bottom 
of  the  message.  "  We  are  safe.  Will  return  as 
soon  as  practicable,"  Alan  said.  And  Bernadette 
as  she  read  it  cried,  with  shining  eyes :  "  Did  I 
not  tell  you  all  so?     I  knew  Alan  could  not  fail!' 

Those  eyes  were  still  shining,  but  with  a  softer 
and  more  tender  light,  when  Alan  himself  met 
them  late  that  evening,  and  took  in  his  own  the 
little  hand  which  could  give  so  true  and  firm  a 
grasp.  And  when  congratulations,  thanks,  and 
descriptions  of  the  gantlet  they  had  run  with 
death,  were  at  last  over,  and  these  two  could 
speak  to  each  other  apart,  Bernadette  said,  with  a 
voice  that  trembled : 

"  Alan,  I  am  so  proud  of  you  !  " 


282  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

Alan  laughed.  "What  is  there  to  be  prond 
of  ?  "  he  asked.  "  You  make  too  much  of  a  simple 
thing.  What  could  T,  who  know  every  fold  of 
those  hills  and  every  trail  across  them,  do  but  go 
back  for  a  man  who  would  have  been  lost  in  half 
an  hour?" 

"  A  man  for  whom  }^ou  had  so  much  reason  to 
incur  suffering  and  danger!  Alan,  do  you  think 
that  I  forget — " 

He  lifted  his  hand  with  a  slight,  silencing  ges- 
ture. "It  is  best  to  forget,"  he  answered.  "All 
that  is  over.  He  has  apologized  for  the  rudeness 
for  which  he  was  not  perhaps  at  the  time  account- 
able, and  I  have  no  desire  to  remember  it.  In 
every  way  he  has  done  all  that  he  could  to  make 
atonement.  I  have  promised  him  to  say  some- 
thing to  you  which  else  I  should  never  have  said. 
Will  you  come  with  me  for  a  short  walk  ? ' 

The  girl  rose  at  once.  It  could  hardly  be  that 
she  knew  what  lie  was  going  to  say ;  but  her 
heart  answered  so  completely  to  his,  that  her  com- 
pliance with  his  request  was  an  impulse  as  spon- 
taneous as  the  beating  of  that  heart.  Now,  as  in 
the  days  of  her  childhood,  wThere  would  she  not 
have  followed  when  Alan  led? 

Thev  walked  away  around  the  screen  mountain 
side.  A  sunset  glow  filled  the  sky  and  flung  its 
reflection  over  the  pastoral  scene  below ;  but  here 
on  this  hillside  shelf,  with  its  overarching  shade, 
a  soft  twilight  had  begun  to  reign.     As  they  left 


A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   AIICADY.  283 

the  gay  valley  behind,  with  its  throngs  of  pleasure- 
seekers,  its  glittering  hotel  and  encircling  cottages, 
filled  with  the  air  of  the  fashionable  world,  it  was 
as  if  they  turned  their  faces  again  toward  the  syl- 
van solitudes,  the  fair  Arcadia  of  their  youth. 

Soon  Alan  paused.  He  was  strung  to  so  high 
a  tension  by  the  mere  thought  of  what  he  was 
now  resolved  to  say,  that  any  further  reticence 
had  become  impossible. 

"  Bernadette,"  he  exclaimed — and  the  tone  of 
his  voice,  changed  and  thrilling  with  passion, 
made  the  girl  start  as  if  another  than  Alan  stood 
before  her, — "your  cousin  says  that  I  am  wrong 
in  thinking  to  go  away  and  leave  unsaid  what  is 
in  my  heart  toward  you.  I  had  thought  that  it 
was  best — that  I  should  only  pain  you  bj-  speak- 
ing. But  I  have  remembered  some  words  of  your 
own.  You  said  yesterday  that  I  had  no  right  to 
play  Providence  and  decide  what  your  life  should 
be.  I  did  not  intend  to  do  that.  I  only  intended 
to  spare  you  knowledge  which  I  thought  con- 
cerned myself  alone,— the  knowledge  that  I  love 
you,  not  with  the  old  love  which  made  you  so 
dear  in  the  past,  but  with  a  new  love,  which  gives 
me  no  alternative  but  to  leave  you,  unless — unless, 
Bernadette,  you  can  turn  from  this  brilliant  life 
which  opens  before  you,  and  for  which  you  seem 
made,  to  put  your  hand  in  mine  and  share  with 
me  a  life  of  obscurity  and  toil.  I  never  thought 
to  ask  it — I  feel  now  as  if  I  were  mad  to  ask  it, — 


HV 


284  A  LITTLE   MAID   OF   ARCADY. 

but,  Bemadette,  if  it  is  possible  that  you  love 
me — " 

Then  she  turned,  stopping  all  other  words  on 
his  lips  by  the  tender  grace  with  which  she  ex- 
tended her  hand  and  laid  it  in  his. 

"  Alan,"  she  said,  with  eyes  that  seemed  to 
hold  the  sunset's  light,  "  I  will  go  with  you  to  the 
end  of  the  world.     How  could  you  doubt  it  ?  " 


THE   END. 


i* 


^ 


fc*v./'f< 


